A Magical Tryst
by Marcus the Iron Raven
Summary: Samuel Flinter returns to his family's home in England after the death of his grandfather, where he is offered a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he falls for a young witch. Will it be Ginny, Hermione, Leanne or someone else?
1. Chapter 1: Death and Discovery

Author's Notes:  
Let's see: Firstly, thank you to monzziiee for taking the time to help proof-read and offer advice about the formation of this chapter; it was a great help as she knows far more about the Harry Potter series then I ever could.  
Secondly, obviously I do not own Harry Potter or any asset attached to the book series written by J.K Rowling. What a nice disclaimer.  
Thirdly, while any creative criticism and feedback is really appreciated, you don't need to stab me in the eye because you think I retconned a specific plot line or character detail in a way you didn't like it; it's my story.  
Thank you.

* * *

England wasn't as hot in the summer as Samuel Flinter had imagined it.  
His uncle's family in Newcastle had responded to his email, complaining about the blistering hot weather and the scorching winds, but Samuel found it rather pleasant; he was used to far hotter temperatures then these Englishmen, and didn't even bother taking his ever-present blue-black jacket off. He flipped his rather fancy sunglasses up, over his shoulder-length dark brown hair and yawned, stretching his arms. He had been in England for less then two days and was already bored with the sights, having finished his official business.

Samuel had been attending the Bahamutia School of Sorcery Mastery down in Queensland, near the north-east coast of Australia, when he had received news that his grandfather back in England had passed away, and that he was mentioned in the will. So Samuel had packed his bags and taken the first flight to Newcastle, where he had been greeted by his uncle's family. Samuel Flinter was a wizard, and he hadn't confided in anyone but his non-magical parents about his attendance to Bahamutia; even his old friends had no idea, and merely thought he was attending a private school in Brisbane. Samuel had been driven to the offices of a prominent law firm, and had sat in a musty dark room with his whole extended family, some of whom he had never even met before, while the old lawyer had played the footage of Samuel's grandfather's last will.  
Grandpa Robert looked the same as ever, even though Samuel hadn't seen him in almost four years, the last time his grandfather had come down to Australia to visit them; his heavily-wrinkled face grinned weakly at the camera, and his twinkling blue eyes, still youthful, but full of pain looking straight at Samuel from the afterlife. Although they had lived a world away, Samuel had always kept in contact with his grandfather, sending letters monthly, and receiving them in turn. His grandfather had been a wealth of knowledge and experiences for Samuel, and they had discussed everything from the birth of democracy to the Battle of Algiers, and now, looking at his grandfather's face, Samuel could feel tears begin to roll down his face. He listened as his grandfather listed the resources and assets he left his immediate family; Samuel's uncle gaining the family home down in Marseilles while another uncle got to keep the large yacht docked down near Southampton, until it was finally Samuel's turn.

"-and to my dear grandson, Samuel, whom I love very dearly, and has kept me very happy during my final years of life with his correspondence, I wish to leave him an apartment in Edinburgh, the very first property I had ever bought. While I understand you might not want to leave your friends and live up here in old England, Samuel, I hope at least you'll make use of it, and the library of books I have left there, whenever you come and visit your family up here.  
I also have left a number of assets in your name: stocks in several blue-chip companies, totaling approximately twenty-five thousand pounds, a similar amount in the trust-fund that will become available to you upon your eighteenth birthday, a black '72 Porsche 911-" A photograph of the car in question popped onto the screen, and Samuel couldn't help but get excited.  
"-which I'm sure you'll be happy with, and finally, a final instruction I'd wish you to follow; as per my request, please greet Mr. Rufus Scrimgeour, who should be in attendance at the presentation of my final will, if not, then the codger's been a bad friend," laughed Grandpa Robert weakly. "If he's not there, then he'll probably find you soon enough. I've left you several more things in his care. Good luck Samuel, you've been a great friend to an old man in the twilight of his life." The screen turned black, and the old lawyer stood and flicked on the lights. Samuel was glad to see he that there wasn't a single dry eye in the room, even the lawyer, who had known Grandpa Robert and was a dear friend, had to blow his nose. Several of the older women sobbed while many of the men regaled each other and the younglings with stories about Robert Flinter, how he had built up a fortune after returning from the Second World War as a captain in the army. Captain Flinter and Joker Squad were a great source of inspiration and bravery for anyone; first in the breach, last to leave, Joker Squad had been party to many a daring rescue mission deep into Nazi lines, and the entire Flinter family were proud to have such an inspirational man in their family. Even now, more then half a century on, the still-living men of Joker Squad were here at the will, each paying their last respects to a man who would fight at the gates of Hell itself for his men.

When Robert Flinter had returned home, a war hero, decorated many times over for his part in the war, he had framed each Iron Cross he had taken from the enemy dead and written the time, date and circumstances he was in when he had taken them. Robert was a proud man, and although modest, he took pride in his accomplishments during the war. Using the money he had gained after selling several trinkets he had 'found' while fighting in France, North Africa and Germany, and bought stock in several companies. He had struck the pot of gold, the companies he had chosen had boomed, rising stronger and stronger as the recession ended. Robert had then bought more and more stock, then began investing in the property market, buying several apartments in various cities. Now, almost fifty years since the war had ended and Robert had come home a hero, he was leaving his family a vast fortune numbering in the hundreds of millions, with property and assets spanning from England to France.

Arnold Carpenter, an old former-Sergeant who had served with Robert in Joker Squad came to shake Samuel's hand; he had heard a lot about Samuel from Robert, and wanted him to know that his grandfather had always thought very highly of him. Carpenter handed a dusty envelope to Samuel. Inside was an old black-and-white photograph, in which six original members of Joker Squad were standing shoulder-to-shoulder in front of a landing boat on a French beach. Written neatly were the words 'Jokers at Omaha, Two Days after landing', and standing right in front, holding his rifle over his shoulder, his shock of dark hair being tousled, was Captain Robert Flinter himself. Joker Squad was one of the first squads to land on the beach on that day, losing several members to the deathtrap that had awaited them. Robert had a bloody bandage wrapped around his chest, where according to Carpenter shrapnel had almost put him out of action.  
"You see, if the good Captain hadn't pushed me down, I wouldn't be standing here before you today, he saved my life, and got chunk of shrapnel in return, and if that wasn't enough, he just jumped on up after wrapping the wound with his shirt, and kept on fighting, until we captured the beach!"

Samuel was introduced to several more surviving members of Joker Squad, and each told him of those times when Captain 'Iron-Guts' Flinter had saved them from death and enemy fire. Each had brought along some form of memorabilia for Robert's favorite grandson, which included Carpenter's photograph, a piece of the shrapnel taken out of Robert's chest in a medical tent in France, Robert's old combat knife which he had pilfered from a dead German major he had killed personally in hand-to-hand combat and the butt of his old M1 Garand that Robert had used to crack open the hatch of a Panzer tank. Each former-member of the Jokers was in tears as they handed their token to Samuel, each had Robert dearly.

At last the gathering was over and each member of the family who had received something in the will went to arrange appointments with their accountants and lawyers in order to discuss the transaction of assets, and Samuel was approached by a tall, slightly-limping middle-aged man, with a mane of tawny hair streaked with grey. But the feature that most strongly stood out to Samuel was that behind the wire-rimmed spectacles was a pair of sharp, yellowish eyes that seemed to bore into Samuel. He wore a red velvet suit, quite a strange fashion to wear in this weather and age. The man extended a hand.  
"Rufus Scrimgeour, I understand you are Samuel Flinter?"  
"Yes," replied Samuel, surprised at Scrimgeour's appearance. The man looked as if he hadn't slept in week; and the yellow eyes just freaked him out. "I understand my grandpa gave you something to hold onto for me?"  
Scrimgeour rummaged through his pockets, and then looked around quickly, as if making sure no one was watching. Satisfied, he pulled out a small, black pouch made of silk and a long, rectangular wooden box. He set them upon one of the desks in the lawyer's office.  
"Don't open the box until you are alone, do you understand me? It's something the muggles shouldn't ever see." Samuel was taken aback for a moment. Scrimgeour mentioned the word 'muggle', and although the word was even used in the non-magical world, Samuel wasn't too sure if Scrimgeour actually meant non-magical people, or whatever the muggles used the word for.  
"The pouch contains your grandfather's key at Gringotts, the bank. Make sure you go and transfer everything to your own account soon, as his account will be closed within two weeks' time." Again Samuel was confused at what Gringotts was, but he just assumed it was a bank chain in England.  
"How did you know my grandpa," asked Samuel, curious of this yellow-eyed man.  
"My mother married his best friend, so you could say he was a constant presence in my life as I grew up. He was also a sort of teacher to me growing up; I learnt a lot from him. Now, I must be leaving, I've urgent business to attend to at the Ministry, please, come by and visit sometime, your grandfather was well-liked there." With that, Scrimgeour shook Samuel's hand once more, and departed the office.

That had all taken place during Samuel's first day in England, and by the time he had greeted all his relatives and been introduced to the ones he had never met, he was deathly tired and plopped straight to sleep in the guest room of his uncle's townhouse. Samuel had dreamt well that night, the first time in months, dreaming of his grandfather and Joker Squad, about the heroic actions he had taken part in. He dreamt of being part of the Jokers, running up the beach at Omaha, firing at the German entrenchments while shells exploded around him. He could smell the beach air; full of salt and blood, and could hear the rumble of men running through trenches. It was only when he awoke when he realized that the sounds weren't just in his dreams.

He had been woken up to the sounds of busy footsteps running around downstairs; it was the day of the burial, and apparently his grandfather's best friend was school had gone missing overnight; his house completely burnt to the foundations.

However, the show must go on, and after the police had come by and asked anyone for any details they may have, which they had none, Samuel was whisked away to the cemetery, where a sizable crowd were waiting, along with a television crew. As Samuel walked up the path through the cemetery, to the site of his grandfather's gravesite, he noticed that there was a crowd of people slightly detached from the rest, numbering about fifty, if Samuel was counting correctly. This group was dressed in the most absurd combination of clothes, ranging from those wearing suit jackets with summer shorts, to those wearing jeans with snow jackets. Among the group Samuel spied Rufus Scrimgeour, who alone was wearing a normal outfit, a black suit which contrasted the red velvet one he wore yesterday. Scrimgeour caught Samuel's eye and nodded, and gestured for Samuel to come speak with him after the funeral.

But it was a teenager with fiery red hair that attracted Samuel's attention at that point; forcing all thoughts of Scrimgeour out of his head. She was about fifteen to sixteen, as far as Samuel could tell; fairly small, her hair kept long and loose and her bright brown eyes flashing at she turned and saw Samuel staring at her. The girl was dressed in a pair of jeans and a dark, red jumper that really matched her hair well, and although it wasn't the right kind of attire one would expect at a funeral, she had better sense than those who had come wearing shorts. She blushed suddenly, and Samuel averted his gaze; he hadn't meant to embarrass the girl. She was here with her family, all very tall and all red-haired with freckles, and as she blushed one of her brothers, a particularly tall and lanky brother with a longish nose, saw what his sister had been staring at and gave Samuel an angry glare. Samuel turned away and just kept on walking up the path to the gravesite.

Samuel was joined by his younger, blonde-haired cousin, Samantha, who asked him if he knew who those people were. He shook his head, and stated he only knew one of them, Scrimgeour, who knew their grandfather. The young fifteen-year old angel chuckled, her curls bouncing. This was the first time Samuel had seen her even smile since he had arrived, and he was glad that even amidst this family tragedy, she could still find humor in the strange garb worn by Scrimgeour's group.

Samuel hadn't seen Samantha since she had come down to Australia with her family four years ago, but even though they hadn't seen each other for so long, they quickly bonded again. They were only separated by one year of age, and found they had many things in common, like a love of history and philosophy, as well as the odd war-game or two.

"That man, Scrimgeour? His eyes don't look right from here," stated Samantha, trying not to stare, but failing miserably.

"Yeah, Scrimgeour, his eyes are pretty weird, they looked yellow to me."

"I wonder if he's a vampire, the Quibbler said he was," asked Samantha absently, twirling a finger through her hair.

"What's that?"

"A vampire, you know, blood-sucking undead-"started Samantha.

"I meant Quibbler, what's that?"

But Samantha didn't have time to answer, they had reached the gravesite proper and were now ushered to sit down on the front row of seats, and to be quiet. A mournful tune was played out, and six pall-bearers began their march down the pathway from the hearse, accompanied by the Joker Squad veterans, wearing their old uniforms and each holding a box in their old, wrinkled hands, containing one of Robert Flinter's medals. Sergeant Arnold Carpenter was leading the way, trying to set his face in stone, but he failed, and soon tears were running down his face as he accompanied his comrade to the grave.  
After the veterans went past, a group of men and women wearing long, black robes, each carrying what appeared to a thick, leather-bound book. Each of the robed people couldn't be younger then his grandfather and Samuel figured they were probably classmates paying their respects.

Samantha burst into tears next to him, clutching his arm and sobbing into his side; Samuel put an arm around her and held her close. He himself felt like crying; it seemed their grandfather was a very well-loved man, and soon, just like at the reading of the will, there wasn't a single dry eye at the funeral, except the priest, who was waiting at the lectern set up in front of the grave.

The rest of the funeral proceeded without a hitch, the priest making the last rites while several men and women, among them Arnold Carpenter, Scrimgeour and Samuel's uncle, came up to make speeches.

Then, with a final mournful goodbye, the crowd said goodbye to the coffin containing Grandpa Robert as it was lowered into the grave. Samantha hugged Samuel once and went to her mum, who dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief. The crowd parted and some left while others remained to comfort loved ones, Samuel's eyes traveled up from the now-filled grave to the tombstone, where it was written:

_Here Lies Robert Flinter  
March 21__st__, 1916 – August 14__th__, 1996_

_Much Loved by his children and grand-children_

_A Joker to the end_

_Missed greatly by everyone he knew_

_Rest in Peace_

"He was a great man, your grandfather."

Samuel turned. It was Rufus Scrimgeour, who was accompanied by a tall, gangly red-haired man with horn-rimmed glasses.

"Samuel Flinter, Percy Weasley, my personal secretary," introduced Scrimgeour. Samuel and Percy shook hands, greeting each other.

"How do you do? I'm sorry about the loss of your grandfather, as the Minister just said, he was a great man," offered Percy, who was clutching a piece of parchment and what appeared to be a quill, quite old-fashioned indeed.

"Thank you, although I kept in contact with him since I learnt to write, there are so many things about him I never knew about."

Percy glanced at Scrimgeour, who pulled out a piece of cloth and took off his glasses to clean them, his eyes peering thoughtfully at Samuel.

"I have the feeling you don't really know who I am, do you?"

"Not really," answered Samuel honestly. Maybe he'd finally get some answers. Scrimgeour looked at Percy, who snapped to attention.

"I have the honor of presenting Rufus Scrimgeour, former Head of the Auror Department and current Minister of Magic."

Samuel stood silent for a moment, his mind racing. Wizards? Wizards at his grandfather's funeral? Why? How? Scrimgeour noticed the confused look on Samuel's face, and arched his eyebrows in a concerned fashion.

"Didn't you know?"

"Know what?"

"You're a wizard, Samuel," said Scrimgeour, almost ominously.

Silence.

"Yeah, I know, I'm wondering how come you wizards came to my grandfather's funeral?" Asked Samuel, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh," Scrimgeour chuckled softly, replacing his glasses on his face. "I assumed you knew; your grandfather was a wizard. Didn't you know?"

"No…"

"Like most muggle families, yours contained a strain of wizarding blood from somewhere up the road, and it manifested as muggle-births in your family," explained Scrimgeour, Percy nodding at every word uttered. But Samuel couldn't be silent anymore, his mind would explode.

"How come I was never told my grandfather was a wizard?"

Percy answered this time. "Your grandfather specifically requested that his identity not to be revealed to anyone, including fellow wizards in his family. He claimed he didn't want to hand you a crutch in the Wizarding world, that you should make your own start."

"Why would it be a crutch? I was so confused with everything going on, he could have helped me understand, I was scared when my powers first manifested. I thought he cared about me."

The Minister's eyes narrowed at this last question. "Your grandfather knew what was best for you, leave it at that. Don't speak ill of the dead, certainly not one as knowledgeable as your grandfather."

"It's fine, sorry I brought it up, I didn't mean to insult his memory. Anyways, what can I do for you two now? I'm guessing this is about something a bit less personal then offering your condolences?

Scrimgeour rummaged through his pockets, searching one pocket after another, until Percy put down his parchment and quill, and pulled out an envelope from his own pocket. He handed it to Scrimgeour, who then handed it to Samuel, who after seeing it was addressed to him, tore it open.

_Dear Mr. Flinter,_

_I hope this letter finds you in good health. My name is Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I wish to offer my deepest sympathies for your loss, your grandfather was a fine man, and I knew him well. I apologize for my absence at his funeral, but unfortunately I am currently out of the country, and unable to attend, however I'm sure the Minister, who I've entrusted this letter to, has explained the situation to you. I myself will come and visit you as soon as I get back from my trip, I'll send you an owl beforehand to arrange a time and date. The reason for my visit is that I wish to offer you a place at my school, Hogwarts, as a sixth-year student; however, I'll need to test you on your ability to determine your grade-level at casting spells, mixing potions and enchanting objects. I will be back within the week, so please spend your time celebrating your grandfather's life._

_Warmest Regards,_

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

_Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Samuel read the letter thoroughly, amazed at the contents, then read it again. He was being offered a place at the world's most famous magical school, Hogwarts, by the Headmaster himself. It was almost too good to be true. He tucked the letter back into the envelope and slid it into his back-pocket. Scrimgeour smiled wearily, and clasped a hand onto Samuel's shoulder.

"A lot of dark things are happening in the country right now, I assume you've heard about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the darkest wizard of our time returning?"  
Samuel nodded. He had heard a bit about the situation here in England from his teachers back in Australia, several of whom had fled England during the last war.

"You-Know-Who is back, and has gathered his Death Eaters and built up his army once more; dark wizards, giants, trolls, all of them have flocked to his cause. He's being causing havoc to both the wizarding and muggle world, killing indiscriminately. William Bellows, your grandfather's best friend, the one who disappeared last night, was attacked by Death Eaters, who burnt his home to the ground and took him to their master. We've got our best aurors on it.  
In the meantime get some rest, spend time with your family, mail your folks back home and decide whether to take Professor Dumbledore up on his offer, but may I ask you a favor?" Scrimgeour had a strange look on his face. Well, stranger, as it was already strange having a set of yellow eyes. Samuel nodded.

Scrimegour continued. "If you do happen to take up Dumbledore on his offer, would you mind keeping me up to date with news from school? For example, if Dumbledore takes a leave of absence, or disappears without warning, then maybe you can find the time to message me?"

Now Samuel found this strange, and tried to appraise the motives behind Scrimgeour's eyes. It wasn't too hard to figure out; Scrimgeour has been having many sleepless nights over the whole deal with the big dark wizard, and he was hoping Albus Dumbledore, rumored to be the most powerful wizard of our time, was actively doing something to fight.  
"I guess there's no harm in it, alright, I'll keep you updated, but I don't have a way of messaging you."

Scrimgeour produced a photograph from his pocket, which he handed to Samuel. On it was a Thick-Billed Raven, a sub-species of the Raven family of birds; it was possibly twenty-four inches in length, completely black apart from a white stripe on its neck. Scrawled on the bottom of the photo was the name 'Raistlin'.

"He's yours, your grandfather sent him to me, telling me that he had a feeling he didn't have much longer to live, and to hold onto the bird until you arrived. I'll send him to you first thing in the morning."

Scrimgeour and Percy bid Samuel goodbye, and left, both walking further into the cemetery, probably to find a safe place to apparate away. Samuel stared after them, almost blankly. Things had turned out strangely; his grandfather had died, left him a whole bunch of things including stocks, a car and an apartment, then it turned out his grandfather was a wizard, and now he was probably going to get into the world's most prestigious Wizarding school. There was something on his mind though, something niggling at the back of his head, something someone had said to him over the last two days.

Walking back to the carpark, where he found his uncle and Samantha waiting, he hugged them both and hopped into the black Bentley. It was only when the car turned the corner of Cornwall road did Samuel realized he had yet to open the wooden box he had received from Scrimgeour the other day. Resolving to remember tonight, he sat back comfortably in the seat as the car rolled into the garage of his uncle's townhouse.

It was past midnight before all the guests his uncle had invited had left, and a great many had offered to keep his uncle company if he ever needed it; Samuel's uncle had lost his wife almost a decade ago to cancer, and usually it was just him and Samantha alone. He shut the front door and walked through the carpeted hallway, flicking off several lights as he went along. On the wall, near the entrance of the den, a diploma hung there, recognizing that Mr. Maurice Flinter was an accredited lawyer who could operate his own firm; and indeed he did, Mr. Flinter was a successful barrister and owner of his own private firm, who had worked on many a large case in order to further the family name.

Maurice was proud of the family name; he took pride in the accomplishments of his father, and wanted to live up to his name fully. Each year brought in more and more clients, and each year he could see himself one day semi-retiring, allowing all the other solicitors and barristers working for him to take over the running of the firm, so he could just concentrate on management.

His brother, Samuel's father, had also been a lawyer down in Australia. The two had been very competitive, vying for their father's attention and praise, right from childhood and into adulthood. Of course, that all had changed when his brother, Owen, had been involved in a car crash with his wife, Margaret, in the family car, on the way to the hospital to deliver their unborn second child. His brother had died in the impact, but Margaret had survived long enough to get to the hospital, but died overnight from internal bleeding, and unfortunately the baby was lost. This had happened only four years ago, and immediately their father had scheduled a flight to go down there, along with Maurice and Samantha. They had found Samuel in the care of his maternal grandparents, and although he had been offered to come live with them in England, he had declined to.

Now, four years later, it looked like Samuel was finally coming back to the family home.

Stepping into the lit kitchen, Maurice beamed at the sight that welcomed him; Samuel and his daughter were sitting next to each other at the kitchen table, and it had seemed that they had fallen asleep as one; Samantha's head was lying on Samuel's shoulder, her blonde hair covering her face like a waterfall while Samuel's head was lying against her head. Maurice didn't have the heart to wake them, but he knew that their necks would ache the next day, so we woke them up and quietly escorted both of the half-asleep teens up to their rooms, then went down to his den to enjoy a glass of whiskey.

But Samuel hadn't fallen back to sleep so easily, and now awake, sat up in bed. Staring across his wide room at the mahogany desk, he quietly tiptoed out of bed and walked over to the desk. Taking the box in both hands, he looked at it curiously; for some reason he had an almost maniacal urge to open the box quickly, something that made him feel uncomfortable

Opening the box, he found precisely what he thought he would: a wand. Looking at the card that came with it, he recognized his grandfather's handwriting, 'Blackthorn, fourteen inches, flexible, dragon heartstring."

Samuel picked up his new wand, and felt a surge of warmth flow through his fingers.

"Thanks grandpa."


	2. Chapter 2: Coins and Courtesy

Samuel Flinter was lost.

It had been only a few days since he had settled into his uncle's home in Newcastle, and after spending the day after the funeral in a state of amazement and shock, he had come to a strange conclusion: technically, he wasn't a muggle-born. Since his grandfather was a wizard, any of his children would be either wizards or squibs, and in this case, both Samuel's uncle and late father were squibs, and since his father was a squib, theoretically he didn't count as a muggle-born. It still made Samuel's head hurt.

He had roused the thick-billed raven that he had found dozing on the perch outside his window, and had let it in. Scrimgeour had fulfilled his promise, and Raistlin was now Samuel's, and the first thing he did was to quickly compose a letter to the Ministry of Magic in London, asking them for any information they had on his family regarding his blood-status, and whether he was still officially a muggle-born. He had received an answer that evening, as well as a guide to the Wizarding community in England, including all the sights and attractions a wizard may find interesting. Samuel had decided to visit Diagon Alley, which according to the guide 'contained virtually everything of importance to the average wizard or witch'.

And of course, Samuel had gotten lost.

He had taken the train and arrived at Kings Cross Station after a few hours, the hopped into a taxi and been dropped off at Charing Cross Road, just outside a muggle record shop. Sure enough, just as the guide said, the magical inn was indeed visible to Samuel's eye, although it seemed the muggles around him had no idea it existed at all.

Samuel had walked into the Leaky Cauldron and gained access to the back courtyard, where he followed the guide's steps and tapped the brick wall in the right pattern, allowing him access into Diagon Alley. However, it was somewhere at this point Samuel was sure he had lost the guide.

He had been so amazed by the sight that lay before him, he had forgotten his guide in the courtyard, and had just wandered right through the magical doorway and into the bowels of Diagon Alley. Squashed together on the narrow street were Wizarding shops as far as Samuel's eye could see; owleries, bookshops, wandmakers and magical joke shops, just for starters. But Samuel could see something was up; many of the shops were closed, and Samuel could even see a few that had been completely boarded up. Only a few wizards and witches peppered the streets, moving in large groups and anxiously looking over their shoulders every few seconds.

Samuel felt fairly out of place in this strange street. Back in Australia there were no Wizarding districts on this scale; usually every student just bought their books straight from school. He kept taking a few steps in one direction, then biting his lip and glancing around, hoping to find some sort of information booth.

"Are you lost?"

Turning around, standing before Samuel was a brunette witch dressed in jeans and a sweater; her hair was fairly long and worn loose, Samuel was sure that she would have been scouted out by a modeling agency in the muggle world. She didn't look that old either, just about Samuel's own age.

"Uh, yeah. I'm new here," answered Samuel uncertainly. The girl extended a hand.

"My name's Hermione Granger, a sixth-year student at Hogwarts. My parents are muggles, so when I got my letter to Hogwarts, I was also really lost."

Sixth-year student. Samuel decided to do something he wasn't used to. He was going to try making a friend. He reached out and shook her hand.

"Samuel Flinter, Second-year senior at Bahamutia School of Sorcery Mastery, pleased to meet you."

Hermione seemed to grow excited at the mention of his school. "But Bahamutia is the best Wizarding School in the Southern Hemisphere, why have you come to London?"

Samuel explained to Hermione about his coming to England because of the death of his grandfather, how he inherited a small fortune in assets and how he was being offered a place at Hogwarts if he wished it.

"Your grandfather, he wouldn't happen to have been Mr. Robert Flinter, the Junior Minister of the Department of International Magical Cooperation?" Hermione was literally rocking on the balls of her feet now.

"Well, yeah, he was I guess. Did you know him?" asked Samuel, feeling foolish all of a sudden, his cheeks turning red from the attention, but Hermione was thrilled.

"I studied some of the regulations he drafted while he was Head of the Department, did you know he was the Head? He stood down a few years ago and semi-retired into the role of Junior Minister. It was actually because of him that the Ministry got hold of a Ukrainian Ironbelly for study in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, therefore allowing-"

Samuel learnt very quickly that Hermione Granger liked to study a lot. He listened to her speak about his grandfather and some of the things he had done for the Ministry, and it felt kind of nice to know that even students at school appreciated his late-grandfather's efforts. Samuel told her a bit about his schooling down in Bahamutia, something she seemed very interested in.

"-and we all officially enter the school proper after a long and boring screening process, where the examiners filter the most-gifted from the rest." Samuel was saying as he and Hermione were sitting in Madame Carmella's Caramel Bakehaven; a small, cozy little café that stood not too far from the entrance to Diagon Alley. They had both bought Danish pastries and ordered a cup of tea each; Hermione sipping Earl Grey while Samuel enjoyed Green Tea with Lemon.

"But don't take that the wrong way, just because I've been classified as 'gifted', doesn't mean I really am, I'm sure your far more skilled at magic then me, after all your school's Headmaster is Albus Dumbledore after all," said Samuel, bringing the tea to his mouth. It was still piping hot, and he burnt his tongue as a few drops slid down his throat.

Hermione looked rather pleased at the compliment.

"But you've already mastered non-verbal magic, haven't you? I'll admit I've studied it quite a bit, and it looks really difficult, all I've managed to master are the real basics."

Samuel nodded. "Right from the start of our education our teachers start instilling the basics into us as we learn; they push us as hard as possible it seems. Coming to England has been such a delight so far, seeing the difference in magical culture."

He and Hermione chatted further, finishing their tea while taking bites of their delicious pastries, while every now and then waving a hand to a passing student who she knew. Hermione was very gifted, in Samuel's opinion, judging by the way that Hermione was able to relate any fact she had studied so easily. When he asked about how wizards had established such a strong community in London, Hermione was able to supply him with names and dates as if she had just read about them. Samuel was genuinely interested in what she had to say; he had always loved history and while it was true he mostly studied muggle history, he had always excelled at his History of Magic classes at Bahamutia.

Samuel excused himself to go to the bathroom. When he came back, he saw the tall gangly red-head he had seen at his grandfather's funeral, the one who had glared at him. He was sitting on Samuel's vacant spot, his back towards Samuel. As Samuel started to walk back to the table, Hermione noticed him, her eyes widening very slightly, but the red-head had noticed, and turned around.

"Something you want, mate?" Asked the red-head. It looked as if he hadn't recognized Samuel from the funeral.

Samuel stopped at the empty third seat and grasped it tightly with one hand, while offering his other. "I'm sorry, I'm Samuel Flinter, I was just having a spot of tea with Hermione, I take it you know each other?" The red-head's ears turned red, and looked as if he was trying to stop the urge of biting Samuel's head off. Funnily enough, the red-head didn't bother to introduce himself, and just shook Samuel's hand awkwardly, before turning back to Hermione, who rolled her eyes.

"Samuel, this is Ronald Weasley, a friend of mine," explained Hermione. Something clicked in Samuel's head.

"Weasley? Are you related to Percy Weasley? I think he's an aide to Scrimgeour," asked Samuel, thinking carefully. Here was a chance to find out who that girl was at the funeral. However, Ron just grunted, his face turning slightly red from anger, but Hermione intervened.

"Yes, Percy is one of Ron's older brothers."

Samuel took a seat, and signaled over the waitress to order another round of tea and pastries for the trio. Although Ron didn't really want to speak to Samuel because of some idiotic sense of protecting his territory, he loosed up after awhile, possibly after he realizing that Hermione had no intention of leaving yet. Some people were just too easy to work out. After asking a few questions about Hogwarts to Ron, who could barely form entire coherent sentences it seemed, Samuel nudged the conversation back onto family.

"Do either one of you have any brothers or sisters at Hogwarts?"

Hermione shook her head, and explained how she was an only child, but Ron started to count off all his siblings one-by-one. The way Ron put it, it sounded to Samuel like the Weasley parents were quite enthusiastic indeed.

"-and then Fred and George left Hogwarts last year, and started up a joke shop business. My parents weren't too pleased, but if you've seen some of the things they've been buying with those piles of galleons; dragon-skin jackets and boots, premises on Diagon Alley, it's brilliant!"

"So that just leaves you in Hogwarts?"

Ron jammed a pastry into his mouth. "Me and Ginny, yeah."

Ginny Weasley. Samuel would remember that name. He finished his tea and stood, before realizing he had made a very stupid mistake. It wasn't like Samuel at all to forget something like money, and he had yet to withdraw his grandfather's funds from his account. His face flushed, Samuel explained the problem to Ron and Hermione; Ron looked slightly pleased at the turn of events, while Hermione just shook off Samuel's apology and pulled out her own purse.

"It's alright; let's just stop by Gringotts so you can see how the bank works. I'll show you to one of the managers, and then I and Ron will be hanging around Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes for awhile, so drop by, okay?"

Samuel was touched; he had met such a kind person who was willing to go out of her way to help him and show him around, and he asked her why.

"Because no one really helped me when I first came here."

* * *

It was almost two hours later until Samuel had sorted out his grandfather's account in Gringotts, the Wizarding bank. The goblins had scurried quickly from filing cabinet to cabinet, accessing records and files. Snorglak, the old goblin in charge of his grandfather's account finally handed Samuel a piece of parchment which contained the exact amount in his new account and all the recent transfers.

Noticing a transfer of funds made just the day before, Samuel asked Snorglak what they meant.

"Mister Flinter's prior transfers are strictly private and not accessible by any persons other than those included in the transfer. All we may say is that according to your grandfather's will, one other person had benefited financially from his will."

Samuel had thanked the old goblin and left the giant complex, carrying a bag of galleons he had withdrawn. He was amazed at the amount left for him; his grandfather had also been a rich man in the Wizarding world, as well as the muggle world. He had owned almost a quarter of Diagon Alley, renting out the shops to different businesses, and had also been involved in the importation of various alchemical ingredients from different countries. One of the richest men in England's Wizarding community had passed away and left a fortune of gold and assets for Samuel, and he still couldn't understand why his grandfather had entrusted so much to him.

Robert Flinter had no way of knowing Samuel would want to stay in England, and owning all this property from overseas would create many inconveniences for him to manage from so far away. He began to suspect that perhaps his grandfather had indeed known. But while Samuel was walking out of the bank, walking to where Hermione and Ron had said to meet him, he wasn't paying too much attention to what was in his path, and had walked right into a tall, blonde-haired girl who was crouching, doing up the straps on her flats. Samuel tripped on the girl stupidly, and fell down on the now-sprawling teenager. Samuel stared right down into her clear green eyes, and marveled at her softly chiseled features. She looked very delicate, Samuel had decided, delicate and soft. They lay there for a moment, before the girl laughed musically.

"Tha' was quite a tumble, your eyes ah pretty, I like the color, green an' brown." The girl spoke is a lilting, Irish accent, her eyes twinkling with mirth. "Do you mind helpin' me up."

Samuel blushed. He had almost said something along the lines of 'so are yours'. He quickly stood and offered the girl a hand, hoisting her up lightly. She stood tall, taller than even Samuel, and shook the dirt off her green floral dress, and finished fixing up the straps on her shoes, before standing up and laughing again at Samuel's blushing face. Samuel's brain raced quickly.

"Are you alright? I'm really sorry about that," he said, his hand gripping his bag of galleons nervously.

"I'm alright, I ain't as weak as I look." Samuel couldn't get enough of her accent. She pronounced her vowels very softly, while she was hitting the consonants much harder. It didn't sound like she'd been in England for long.

Offering his hand, Samuel introduced himself. "My name is Samuel Flinter, at your service."  
"Bail ó Dhia ort. Taryn O'Laighin is my name, pleased t' make your acquaintance." The girl pronounced her name 'Tare-in' and, rather then shaking his hand, clasped it with both delicate hands.

"Same, where are you from? That's Gaelic, isn't it?"

Taryn seemed pleased at him recognizing her language. "Donegal, it's in Northern Ireland. How'd you know it was Gaelic?"

Samuel explained to her how he had a keen interest in history, and the old Gaelic tales were just one area he loved to read about. She seemed interested, and found it almost impossible not to laugh at his pronunciations of several names. He told of about how he had grown up wishing he was a particular knight of Ireland that was rather well-known.

"Culann, not Culen! Fancy yourself bein' Cuchulainn? Come t' slay the hound with you' spear? Of course, it be no hound here in England, but ah terrible dark wizard," she said, almost mockingly, but Samuel could see it was in good humor. Samuel didn't exactly give much thought to the apparent war that was brewing in England; sure, this self-styled 'Dark Lord' was supposed to be the most-powerful wizard after Albus Dumbledore, but that wasn't exactly a very profound claim. Dozens of wizards and witches around the world claimed to be the top, to be capable of things others could only dream of, so Samuel didn't really give a damn if people said Dumbledore was the only thing stopping 'You-Know-Who' from achieving world domination. What was his name anyways? No one had bothered to inform Samuel; some ignored the question while others simply whimpered and attempted some sort of facial jig. How was he supposed to be scared of someone who wouldn't even be publically named, just made it sort of ridiculous in Samuel's opinion.

"Well I'm actually ah student at Hogwarts, you see, seventh-year already, and what ah year to finish in, with all the chaos and the like. How about you, I've never see you before," asked Taryn, taking out her wand and dexterously balancing it on her fingers before flipping it over and over again around the ends of her long fingers.

Samuel spoke to her about his interest in attending Hogwarts, and how he was to be tested soon by Albus Dumbledore himself. Taryn seemed mildly interested, but was far more interested in Samuel himself, and fired question after question at him about his home. She laughed as he told her about the time he had charmed a fellow student's hair to tie itself in knots, and how in the end the wizard had to get his hair shaved off. She grinned mischievously as Samuel told her about the time he stole a broom from the school's storage lockers and flew into a tree, but her eyes filled with tears when she heard about his grandfather and how much he meant to Samuel.

"I too lost someone recently," started Taryn, her eyes downcast. "M'mam died last year, and I still can hear her voice sometimes, singin' t' me in my dreams." Then Taryn grinned and wiped the tears from her eyes. "But I know that she wouldn't want me to grieve like this, so it's okay. Now, it's been nice meetin' you, and I hope we can speak again soon, Samuel Flinter. I'll drop you an owl."

Samuel waved to the departing Irish lass, grinning inwardly. It had been a strange conversation, flying from topic to topic, but Samuel felt he would indeed like knowing Taryn more. Even if he didn't get into Hogwarts, maybe becoming pen-pals would be fun. Not to mention that Samuel thought she was absolutely gorgeous. He had only been in England for less than a week and had already seen three different beautiful girls.

* * *

When Samuel had finally located Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, he nearly just did an about-turn right in the doorway. This was the one shop that seemed to actually be booming with business; masses of teenagers and their younger siblings were rifling through the store, buying Puking Pastilles and Nosebleed Nougats by the armful. Ducks flew through the air, singing the national anthem while a sinister pumpkin sprouted vines for legs and began dancing wildly, entangling a first-year in its hold and tangoing further into the shop with the panicking child. Samuel recognized one of the managers as being a red-head he had seen at his grandfather's funeral; tall, but not as gangly-looking as Ron had been. If he was remembering correctly, this would be either Fred or George. Samuel sidled his way through a clump of girls giggling over an advertisement about love potions, and locked eyes with the Weasley twin.

"I'm looking for Hermione Granger, or your brother, Ron."

The Weasley raised a single eyebrow and grinned, then motioned to the back room. Thanking him, Samuel pushed past the heavy curtain which hung open the door and walked into a room slightly smaller than the store's front. Of course, with no kids to crowd him, Samuel felt better already, and stared at his surroundings. Boxes were piled up back here, cartons of different Weasley products just waiting to be marketed. Here, wearing matching magenta robes were Ron and Hermione, picking up boxes and sorting out one type of Skiving Snackbox from another. Hermione's hair was now mussed, and sweat dripped from both of their faces. It was Ron who first noticed Samuel standing there, and tapped Hermione, who went pink and mumbled about going to freshen up, leaving the boys together.

"So…" started Ron, looking very comfortable in the present circumstances, and frankly, Samuel couldn't blame him. "Do you follow a Quidditch team?"

"Uh, yeah, the Woolongong Warriors, you?"

Ron looked suddenly looked very proud, his face taking on a seriousness that didn't exactly look right. "The Chudley Cannons."

Samuel stared at him, then burst into laughter. The Chudley Cannon's haven't won in the English League in almost a hundred years, and even down south in the Australian League many of the teams fear earning a similar reputation, even coining the phrase 'pulling a Chudley' amongst themselves. It was almost twenty minutes of throwing insults about the other's teams until Hermione finally rejoined the boys, freshly showered and wearing a pair of jeans and a pink-and-white horizontally striped polo shirt, her hair tied into a low pony-tail. Ron's eyes were glued to her, and Samuel couldn't help but smirk at the infatuated red-head; as if it wasn't obvious to Hermione where her friend's eyes were staring at.

It was at that moment a common barn owl flew through an open window near Samuel, and landed neatly, perched atop a box of the Weasley's products, hooting a greeting to Samuel, who took the piece of parchment attached to the owl's leg, which then promptly took off once more and left. Samuel unraveled the parchment, and a small pouch fell out. Ignoring the pouch for now, Samuel began to read aloud.

_Good Afternoon Mr. Flinter,  
I hope this letter finds you well, and that you have already begun to waddle through all the bureaucratic-tape attached to your grandfather's will. I am currently sitting in the Leaky Cauldron, enjoying a drink with a fellow professor at Hogwarts. I would be glad to see you here if you can make it. Inside the enclosed pouch is a portkey that should be able to take you directly here if you choose to accept._

_Best Wishes,_

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

_Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

"Well," said Samuel, rolling up the parchment. "I guess I better get going. Thank you both very much." Samuel shook both their hands, despite their offer to join him, which he refused, on the grounds that he didn't want to inconvenience either one of them, but he noticed Hermione seemed slightly put out. Samuel mentally made a note to send her a letter as soon as possible.

Emptying out the pouch onto a bench outside the store, a piece of candy known as a Fizzing Whizbee rolled out. Samuel grabbed hold of the portkey carefully. He hated portkeys. Immediately the sensation of being hooked behind the navel and being flung forward through time and space, landing dizzily in front of a pair of wizards seated in a booth in the Leaky Cauldron. The same barn owl that had delivered him the letter had already beaten him here, and was now perched on the shoulder of a ancient wizard wearing half-moon spectacles, his long purple robes trimmed with gold with stars patterned over it. He had a nose that looked as if it had been broken several times, and a long, white beard that was at least a foot in length, and Samuel knew that this must be Dumbledore. While he looked rather kindly, his brilliant blue eyes pierced Samuel, and made him feel rather uncomfortable, however, not as much as his drinking partner's did.

The man sitting hunched over his drink opposite Dumbledore was sallow-looking, with a long, hooked nose and greasy black hair. He was packing something into a case underneath the table, working several containers into yet smaller containers. When he was done, he looked down his nose at Samuel, a cold look in his eyes. The man sipped his firewhiskey while Dumbledore stood and clasped his hands on Samuel's shoulders.

"Your grandfather was a great man, Samuel," said Dumbledore, his voice low and peaceful. "This is Professor Severus Snape, who was, until very recently, our Potion Master at Hogwarts, and now is our teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Professor Snape narrowed his eyes and nodded his head to Samuel, but didn't say anything.

"I hope your getting used to life here in England. As Headmaster of Hogwarts, I am in my right to both accept and deny any wizard or witch from entering Hogwarts as a student, and while it is not often a student from out of the country wishes to transfer, your grandfather asked me to offer you the chance should you come to England." Dumbledore continued, pushing his butterbeer away. "I am just waiting for a reply from a friend in the Ministry, it shouldn't take long." He tied a piece of parchment to the barn owl's leg, and it flew off.

Snape stood up, his black robes swirling around him. "While it may be the Headmaster's duty to inspect a new student, it is not mine. Farewell," said Snape in his smooth monotone, and departed the Leaky Cauldron.

"Would you like to sit down, and perhaps share a butterbeer or two with me while we wait?"

Dumbledore offered Samuel the now-vacant seat, and as Samuel sat, he produced a newspaper and a magazine, and offered either to Samuel, who chose the newspaper. Dumbledore signaled to Tom, and ordered a round of butterbeer for them both. Flipping open the Daily Prophet, Samuel immediately saw on page two the article devoted to his grandfather, a image of him sitting at his desk; drinking a coffee and winking to the camera.

_Wizarding Entrepreneur Passes Away Peacefully_

_On Sunday night, magical businessman and entrepreneur Robert Flinter, Order of Merlin Second-Class, passed away in his sleep late in the night at the age of eighty. Mr. Flinter, one of the richest men in the wizarding world, owning properties scattered all around the world, including a good portion of our own Diagon Alley, has left most of his assets and fortune in the name of one Samuel Flinter, Mr. Flinter's grandson._

_Mr. Eldric Hassle, the lawyer who handled the reading of the will, and who was Mr. Flinter's friend for many years, stated this for the muggle new on Monday:  
"A great man has left us last night; an honest, hard-working man who built up his fortune and companies from nothing, who took the ashes of recession and helped build one of the strongest market booms England has ever seen. He has left behind a loving family, and a legacy to be passed down to his children and his children's children."_

_Following the funeral service held on Tuesday, the Minister, Rufus Scrimgeour, who attended the funeral with a small party of attendants, offered the grieving family his condolences, and spoke to Mr. Flinter's grandson about his future in England._

Samuel kept on reading; there was an article about some basic home safety, some dribble about some witch singer getting married to a quidditch player, stuff that he, more or less, didn't really care too much about. Dumbledore however was enjoying himself immensely indeed, reading a magazine with the photograph of a monkey brandishing a wand on it. Captioned below the picture were the words 'Hit Monkey on the Loose!' At the top of the front Samuel read out the name of the magazine, and suddenly a thought struck him.

"Professor Dumbledore, is that a Wizarding magazine? Or a one from the muggle world?" Asked Samuel, curious now, his brain working very quickly.

"The Quibbler? This is indeed a magazine printed by a wizard, one Xenophilius Lovegood. They usually print the most humorous articles."

Samuel's History of Magic teacher back in Bahamutia once set a special exam for Samuel. He had bet Samuel a gold galleon that there was no way he could pass that exam with anything higher than a B-grade, and Samuel had accepted the challenge. The exam had consisted of thirty double-sided pages, testing him of his knowledge of magical history, covering everything from the Goblin Wars to instances of Witch-Burning in medieval times. Samuel had to remember times, dates, names and locations, writing madly for almost four hours before finishing. He had succeeded, and his reputation as having a brilliant memory was well-founded when he was awarded an A+.

In this case, his question had been founded by something he had heard at the funeral, something that made absolutely perfect sense in his mind.

A wizard wearing a set of plain, brown robes apparated less than five feet from where Samuel and Dumbledore were seated, and after carefully re-positioning his glasses, he leaned over to Dumbledore's ear and whispered something, before standing straight again and disapparating.

Rising from his chair, Dumbledore motioned for Samuel to join him outside the Leaky Cauldron, in the back courtyard. Once out on the cobblestones, Samuel retrieved the guide he had left earlier that day. Dumbledore asked Samuel to grab onto his arm, and immediately Samuel was transported by side-along apparition with Dumbledore to a meadow. It was a grassy plain, with a few fruit trees scattered around, the sun blazing overhead. A small lake was situated to Samuel's left, maybe twenty meters or so away, where he spied several horses drinking from the water's edge. Dumbledore conjured several plush cushions in a pile, as well as an old tinderbox and a plain wooden table.

Placing the tinderbox on the table, he asked Samuel to transfigure the tinderbox into a trophy. Samuel took it one step further, and transfigured the tinderbox into a replica of the Australian League's Qudditch Cup from two years previous when the Wollongong Warriors had defeated the Adelaide Aurors with a two-point difference. Dumbledore smiled at this display, and then asked Samuel to demonstrate the proper casting of the Reductor Curse. Within a second, the table was turned to debris.

Next he was asked to shield himself while Dumbledore magicked several cushions to fly at him; a powerful Protego spell easily repelled the cushions.

After half an hour of casting several Transfiguration, Charms and Defense spells, Dumbledore finally stopped, and handed Samuel a letter.

"In this you shall find a list of all your books, and the date and time for the departure of the Hogwarts Express from Kings Cross. I shall bring you back to the Leaky Cauldron, and from there you can begin shopping straightaway."

Within moments Samuel was back in Diagon Alley, on his way back to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes in order to tell Hermione the good news, if she was still there. Samuel had been officially accepted into Hogwarts, and he couldn't wait to start there.

* * *

It was the next day when Samuel walked through the door at his uncle's townhouse, weighed down with stacks of books and a small lake's worth of ink to write with. His uncle had been very understanding, and had even as gone so far as to clean up the other spare bedroom, converting it into a study in which Samuel could study while he was still living there. His uncle was a freak for mahogany, and had gone all out, buying another mahogany desk just like the one in Samuel's bedroom, on which Samuel dumped all his books on. Several of the books he had marked for reading, especially Bathilda Bagshot's _A History of Magic_, as well as Neil McKirk's _On the Premises of Charm-work_, an extra book he had decided to pick up.

But he had one very important objective that day, that wouldn't take too long to complete. Samuel left everything in the study and walked back to his room, fidgeting with his wand. Raistlin croaked a greeting to him, before Samuel went and opened the window for him. It was early in the morning, but he already knew his uncle and cousin were up, as their respective bedroom doors were both open.

Going back downstairs, Samuel grabbed a piece of toast from the kitchen and sat, drinking his glass of orange juice and the Daily Prophet he had borrowed from Dumbledore. He re-read the article on his grandfather twice for no apparent reason, then stood up and went to the sliding door that led to the backyard. Sure enough, both Maurice and Samantha were there, both wearing the same identical white gi and practicing a series of movements and stances. Samuel was never one for Yoga, but he respected it, and waited patiently for them to come inside.

When Samantha finished her exercise early, and asked her father if she could go shower first, the last thing she expected was Samuel at the dining table, a piece of toast jammed in his mouth, jumping up and asking, "Argfhh flou argh whitchh?"

She responded by doubling over and laughing, and hitting the now-choking Samuel on the back, who somehow swallowed the mass of bread and asked again, panting.  
"Are you a witch?"

Samantha raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I am. Just because daddy is a squib doesn't mean I am."

Samuel's suspicions were right; she had mentioned the Quibbler at the funeral, and that was why he questioned Dumbledore over it.

"So, we'll be going to school together then I guess. Do you like Hogwarts?" Asked Samuel, quite pleased with himself.

Samantha told him she did, and told him about several of her experiences there and about some of the professors who had taught there in the past, as well as the ones still currently there; apparently a man who had taught Defense Against the Dark Arts in her second year was her favorite. She began telling him about some of her friends in her house, Ravenclaw, before a thought popped into Samuel's head. He wondered about how to carefully phrase the question, but he was impatient so just simply asked Samantha if she knew a girl called Ginny Weasley, who should be in her year-level.

"Yeah I do, she's in Gryffindor, and it's actually kind of funny you should mention her."

"Why," asked Samuel, happy that his cousin hadn't suspected his reason for asking.

"Because she's coming over tomorrow for lunch."


	3. Chapter 3: Fiend and Friendship

It began as such a quiet morning; Samuel had overslept until late in the morning, having spent the previous day going shopping for bits and bobs to decorate his room with, as well as fully unpacking his belongings before celebrating with his uncle and cousin. He had asked his uncle for permission to live at his house; at least until he had come of age and moved into the apartment his grandfather had left him. His cousin had been overjoyed of course, being an only child and all. Samantha had been bouncing off all the walls since she had heard the news yesterday, even going as so far as suggesting they have some sort of party that night, though Samuel didn't really see how three people eating dinner and celebrating could really count as a party.

His uncle had prepared a three-course banquet all by himself, utilizing his ultra-modern kitchen like a pro. He had prepared a pot roast, steamed vegetables, baked potato and pumpkin, prime steak ribs and a chocolate fondue afterwards. While Samuel enjoyed the meal immensely, the fondue was a bit much for him. However, he did indeed enjoy the bottle of Tequila his uncle had cracked open.

Samuel wasn't much of a drinker, he generally preferred to be sober as he hated losing control, but since it was a special occasion he decided to indulge himself, so he allowed his uncle to pour him a shot. Samantha pestered her father until she too was allowed a drink, albeit a half-shot instead. All three poured a little salt on their wrists, and cut a slice of lime in preparation, then raising their shot-glasses in a toast, each licked their wrist, slammed the Tequila down their throats and bit into the slice of lime. While Samuel and his uncle enjoyed the fiery drink going down, Samantha almost turned red and began coughing hard.

"How can you drink this stuff?" Samantha asked, trying to wipe the tears due to the massive bout of coughing. Samuel hadn't been able to drink Tequila until recently when he discovered he had acquired a taste for the hard liquor back in Australia after a night of drinking with his friends.

Samuel tried not to think too much of his old friends; he knew it wouldn't be long until he saw them again, however he still felt a twinge whenever he thought of all the fun times he had with his best friends, Marcus and Yvonne.

"It's not that bad is it; the lime is awesome afterwards, isn't it?"

They had all downed another round of shots, even Samantha, though this time her father had forgotten to only pour a half-shot. They downed that round, then the next. By the time he had drank down the third shot, Samuel was feeling pretty good and knew he was getting tipsy. His uncle had left the room to go grab something fun, and Samantha was eyeing the bottle with interest. Samuel poured the both of them another shot, and decided to stir some conversation up.

"So this friend of yours, Ginny, what's she like?"

Samantha bit into her lime with relish. "She's pretty awesome. She's going to apply for the position of Chaser on the Quidditch team this year I think, apparently the Gryffindors are losing half their team because most of the members were in their last year, and everyone's wondering if Harry Potter will become the new captain of the team."

Samuel had heard of Harry Potter before. The Boy Who Lived, as many liked to call him, amongst other things. He was the one who had defeated the Dark Lord as a baby, and since then had defeated or escaped him no less then four times. He was a beacon for hope and courage, and many thought he would once more defeat the Dark Lord, this time for good. Samuel didn't have too much of an opinion about him; frankly he didn't really believe a lot of the stories going on about him. That a baby could defeat one of the most powerful wizards in existence, and then his servants, the Death Eaters as a mere student; it was impossible in Samuel's opinion, but he kept it to himself. The people needed a figurehead, someone to look up to in times of darkness. While Dumbledore was known as the one wizard the Dark Lord was afraid of, he was old and many thought he was losing his touch, as well as his marbles, but Harry Potter was far easier to believe in. If he wasn't a charlatan as Samuel thought, but the next wizarding prodigy with power capable of defeating the Dark Lord, then Samuel supposed he either could really be a figure as strong as Dumbledore in the future, or even as evil as the present Dark Lord was.

"She's really smart too, even though she doesn't really know it. She's always quick at picking up new spells and her Bat-Bogey Hex is legendary. She's popular among the guys, far more then me at least." Samantha had added this last part almost morosely, looking dejected. Samuel knew a little bit about Samantha's dating life; after all, what topic is more popular among friends and relatives. He had heard about her brief stint with some guy called Colin, who had ended up turning gay, and how she had gone out with an older, Irish student named Seamus for almost a year before the bastard had left her for a girl with a bigger breast size. Samuel could see how a track-record like this could be really damaging to a girl's self-esteem, but it seemed like Samantha was almost jealous of her friend.

"What's wrong?"

Samantha looked reluctant to answer, and was saved the effort of making up an answer by her father, who had entered the room again with a Monopoly set, which they set up on the carpeted floor in the living room. After a rotation on the board, Samuel stood up and brought the Tequila and glasses down to the playing area, and poured everyone a shot. The lime lay forgotten, and the rest of the night was drowned in Tequila.

* * *

The events of last night swirled in his head, pounding at the sides of his skull and facilitating a moan out of him. Samuel was nursing one of the worst hangovers he had ever had, and was almost dragging his feet along as he went downstairs to the kitchen, where he could hear the television was being played. He had entered the kitchen clutching his ears, his eyes stinging from the harsh sunlight streaming through the open curtains. Almost blinded, he had stumbled into a chair and sat back. Samantha was in the kitchen already, cooking breakfast. She was wearing a baby-blue silk dressing gown and had plaited her blonde hair this morning. Samuel marveled at how she seemed to be completely unaffected by a hangover, and felt very jealous indeed.

"Mornin' Sammy," tooted Samantha happily, grinning as she set down a plate of bacon and eggs in front of Samuel, as well as a glass filled with a green liquid with the consistency of thick honey.

"Hey Sammy," replied Samuel, without thinking. There was silence, before the cousins turned to look at each other, their faces incredulous. They both just stared, startled at the discovery they had just made. It wasn't like the two hadn't mused over their similar names in the past; however it was strange they had both, without thinking, called each other by the same nick-name. After almost half a minute, Samantha turned back to her pan, her cheeks blushing wildly while Samuel looked down on his food and the strange green concoction.

"What's this?" Asked Samuel, poking the glass with his index finger.

"It's for the hangover."

"Do I want to know what's in it?"

Samantha didn't answer, so Samuel decided to wing it. Taking the glass, he tilted his aching head back and poured the goop down his throat, almost gagging from the taste. The taste reminded him of that time he had puked up half-digested pumpkin and fish and the smell made him remember one particularly bad batch of cat litter he had thrown out one day. However, immediately after swallowing, a strange feeling came over Samuel. His head shrank and his eyes stopped aching from the brightness. His hangover had been completely cured in a matter of seconds.

He thanked Samantha again and again, dropping on his knees in front of her and bowing his head up and down in gratitude. Samantha just hit him on the head with the wooden spatula and continued to mix another batch of the green hangover cure for her father.

Sitting back at the table, Samuel asked Samantha when Ginny was to arrive, but immediately they heard the whoosh of flames in the den, where the fireplace was located. Samantha's eyes almost fell out of their sockets while Samuel pelted towards the laundry door, throwing on a pair of dark cargoes and a white top. Samantha, on the other hand, had called out to Ginny that she hadn't changed yet, and ran full-speed upstairs.

Coming out of the laundry, Samuel could hear Samantha in the room above, rummaging through her cabinet and cursing every few seconds. Looking into a mirror in the main corridor, Samuel was pleased to see his shoulder-length hair had decided to be a bit more tidy today, and finger-combed it for a bit while he walked towards the den, where he could hear several pairs of feet shuffling around.

Inside the stifling hot den were a witch and wizard. Ginny Weasley's long hair was splayed around her head as she was lying on the white shag-rug in the centre of the room while her brother, Ron, was looking slightly mystified by the type-writer sitting on the desk. Neither had noticed or heard Samuel enter the room, so Samuel took a moment to take a nice look at Ginny. She was exactly as he remembered her from that quick glance at the funeral, if not more beautiful, and Samuel resisted the urge of just hiding in the corner, making a quick, polite cough to gain their attention.

Ron's head twisted around alarmingly fast, while Ginny jumped up quickly, and apologized for lying on the floor like that. Ron however, seeing Samuel, just stood there speechless, as if he had no idea why Samuel was there at all.

"Welcome to my uncle's home," said Samuel, quickly trying to defuse the strange feeling in the air. "My name is Samuel Flinter, and you must be Ginny Weasley." Samuel knelt down and kissed Ginny's hand, making her turn even redder and Ron's ears turned bright red, just as it had done at Diagon Alley, a scowl marring his face. Samuel stood up and stretched out a hand to Ron, winking at him even while Ron scowled harder.

"Hey, hope this is the right place or that would have been pretty weird," said Ginny, before nudging her brother, who a moment forgot that he was supposed to say something.

"Uh, thanks mate, didn't know you lived here actually, thought Ginny wanted to see one of her friends."

"Samantha is my cousin, I'm living here for now. Did you want to stick around, hang out for a bit or something?"

Ron looked slightly alarmed, his eyes dilating slightly. "Sorry, Hermione waiting for me back at home, we're cleaning up for Harry's arrival. Harry Potter," he added, almost as if he was trying to get some sort of reaction out of Samuel, but Samuel just shrugged and shook Ron's hand again. Ron seemed almost reluctant to leave his sister, but Ginny all-but-pushed him into the fireplace, the green flames roaring as he sprinkled Floor Powder and left.

Ginny didn't seemed shy at all being alone with just Samuel, who invited her into the kitchen for a glass of juice, which she accepted. Sitting down at the table, Samuel prepared the juice machine and plucked a couple of oranges from the fruit bowl.

"I saw you at the funeral a few days ago," said Ginny from the table, watching Samuel.

"Yeah, I had come to England as quickly as I could."

Ginny looked out the window, staring up at the clouds. "My parents were bawling when they heard he had died. I didn't know him myself, but my parents always talked about how he had bailed out my older brother Bill from trouble when he was arrested by the muggle police in Egypt. Muggles use some sort of identification or paper to travel around the world, and when they saw Bill walking the pyramids suspiciously, they had arrested him and wanted to put him into prison for not having any papers. Your grandfather used all his influence in the muggle world to get him off the hook, even though he risked getting into a lot of trouble himself. Since then, my dad has always been having coffee with your grandfather as often as he could, they were friends I guess."

"I loved him a lot, he taught me a lot of stuff," said Samuel, thinking about his grandfather. Samuel handed Ginny a glass of orange juice, and sat with her, sipping his drink as they chatted about several things, like Quidditch and studying at Hogwarts.

"-and I was thinking that maybe I become a Chaser this year. Being Seeker was fun and all, but Harry's far better then me," stated Ginny, but a thud of footsteps going downstairs made her look towards the door. Samantha, her hair no longer plaited but now just left long, the sides clipped, ran towards her friend. As the two hugged, Samuel almost groaned from his cousin's choice in clothing.

"There's no way in hell you're going out wearing a skirt that short," said Samuel, almost embarrassed by his cousin's short skirt. It barely even reached mid-thigh in length.

"But it's too hot," complained Samantha. "A lot of girls dress like this."

"Who said you need to copy everyone else. Ginny's wearing jeans," retorted Samuel, who was now curious, wanting to see Ginny wearing them.

"That's because she doesn't own anything like this, that's why we're going shopping today. Want to come with us? You can ogle all the girls in the shops, I'm sure Ginny would absolutely 'love' having a man's appraising eye." Ginny looked shocked at Samantha's words, but Samuel could tell she was kidding, and decided to go along with the joke.

"Of course I'd love to, and I'd especially love to help Ginny pick out some new clothes, maybe some swimwear too? And of course lingerie, we can't forget about that," Samuel winked, trying not to laugh at the way Ginny's face turned red in a matter of nanoseconds. "I can even bring a camera if she wants photo-evidence of how she looks."

That was too much for Samantha, who stamped her foot laughing her head off, and Samuel joined her, enjoying their little joke. Ginny just sat there, dumbfounded, until it clicked and she realized the two were joking. She slugged Samuel hard, who was standing closest, but couldn't catch Samantha who was laughing wildly as she ran around the dinner table, evading Ginny's hands.

"You want to become a Chaser with skills like that? Come on!"

* * *

It was almost an hour later, and the girls were holed up in Samantha's room, giggling a lot and rummaging through Samantha's stuff. Samuel had gone to his own room to feed Raistlin, who appreciated the left-over bacon and crowed happily. He had no intention of interrupting the girls during their private time, so he began to read of the spell books he had bought yesterday. He was fairly bored, having already studied most of these spells the year before, and just began doodling with a pen on the inside cover.

He had already drawn a passable imitation of Dumbledore lighting his own fart when a small, tawny owl flew through the window, landing beside Raistlin, who crowed at the newcomer, more then a little agitated.

Samuel calmed down his raven and accepted the letter attached to the owl's leg, who hopped once then took off again. Opening the envelope and pulling out the parchment, Samuel began to read the almost-perfect neat handwriting.

_Hey Sam,_

_How's everything going for you right now? Did you meet with Dumbledore; did you get accepted into Hogwarts? It's going to be so great, I'm telling you, Hogwarts is amazing. I just came back from the Ministry; I passed my Apparition Tests with flying colors! My parents are so proud, apparently my dad failed twice before he finally passed. Anyways, I was wondering if you would like to meet up sometime soon, if you have time. Apparently there's a baby Connacht Irontailon the loose somewhere around Donegal, and I'd love some help catching it. Send me a reply as soon as you can and your address, a time and date, and I'll pick you up by floo._

_Taryn_

Immediately Samuel wrote a reply carefully, informing Taryn that he'd love to and his address, and quickly wrote how even today would be fine. Samuel knew that the way things were going right now; it was unlikely he'd get a chance to talk to Ginny one-on-one again today; he thought he'd already made a good introduction and didn't want to push anything, so going out and having some fun sounded like a good idea indeed.

Gesturing over Raistlin, he attached the note to his leg and watched as Raistlin flew off into the early afternoon sky. Knowing there was nothing much else to do but wait, Samuel packed a backpack just in case, and filled it with some spare clothes, a lantern and a compass. While magic could technically replace a compass and lantern, Samuel didn't want to take the chance in case something happened to his wand.

* * *

Maurice had woken up in the other room, and Samuel could hear him stumbling about, no doubt hung-over. His uncle had ended up drinking an entire bottle of red wine to himself, and passed out sometime early in the morning, so Samuel didn't blame him for waking up so late. He listened as his uncle walked into the corridor, and popped his own head out the door, watching his uncle walk to his daughter's room to say hello. Samuel wondered if he should tell Maurice to put a shirt on or something, but decided against it.

Opening the door without knocking, Maurice suddenly went rigid, his eyes bulging. A girl yelled at him, which caused him to shut the door quickly in a panic. Samuel watched his uncle just stand there, not moving, staring at the closed door for almost five minutes before finding his wit's and going downstairs, where an entire jug of Samantha's hangover cure awaited him.

Samuel ducked into his own room and waited for a few minutes before going over to Samantha's room. Knocking on the door, Samantha opened it and let Samuel in. Strewn around the room were piles of clothes, ranging from long skirts to blouses, dresses to boots, of all colors and designs. Samuel hadn't been in her room before, and was surprised to see all the grinning faces of various models from the muggle world stare at him, bare-chested and flexing. Hanging directly over her bed head was a poster of Victor Krum, looking almost regal in his pose as he stretched out a hand to snatch the Golden Snitch. Sitting on the bed was Ginny, now wearing a similar skirt to Samantha, an irritated look on her face.

"Dad walked in on Ginny changing," explained Samantha. "I was in my bathroom."

Samuel was suddenly dazed; if it had been him who had come to the door and walked in, he would have seen Ginny naked. True, she wasn't really naked, as taking her bra and panties off just to change would have been strange, but still, Samuel had his fantasies. He suddenly regretted not having walked in with the pretense to tell them he was leaving soon earlier.

Somewhere in the world, a rainbow had lit up, comprised solely of Samuel's happiness.

"Didn't even bloody knock," muttered Ginny, slipping her feet into a stylish pair of flats that Samantha had bought recently. "Merlin knows I have to deal with that enough at home as it is."

"We did all drink a bit too much last night, my dad especially so," replied Samantha, taking her hair in one hand and tying it into a ponytail. She then took a small bottle of nail polish and sat down on the bed, stretching her left leg out, pretending to be oblivious to Samuel's presence there for no real reason.

Samuel began to feel a little uncomfortable. "Well, I'm just going to head out, alright? I'll probably be back home tonight, or tomorrow."

"Ooooh, do you have a girrrrlfriend?" Samantha rolled the r's several times. It seemed to Samuel she was doing her best to embarrass or irritate him today, but Samuel felt he should play along.

"Maybe, her name's Taryn, she's a seventh-year at Hogwarts. I'm going up to her place in Donegal to go catch a baby dragon. If your dad finishes throwing up downstairs-" Samuel paused, and sure enough, almost as if on cue, Maurice had start retching in the kitchen. "-then tell him I'll be back soon. See you at school, Ginny."

Sure enough, as Samuel brought his backpack downstairs, he heard the fireplace flare up. Rushing into the den, he found Taryn inspecting several of the law encyclopedias his uncle had on the bookshelf. Taryn was wearing what looked to be a costume from some sort of movie based on pirates; brown trousers and a white blouse, with a dark leather vest and a pair of black leather boots almost reaching her knees. She was fiddling with her wand again, her black finger-less gloves not impeding her tricks in the least. On her back was a rifle slung on one shoulder and a backpack.

"So, who are we going to pillage today?" Asked Samuel, bemused by Taryn's appearance, but while he wouldn't admit it to anyone, he actually rather liked this look, it made her look tough.

"Hey, are we ready t' go? I don't won't t' be stuck outside in the dark tryin' t' catch ah dragon."

Taryn outlined the plan for Samuel before they left, pulling out a map of the area the dragon was thought to be in and unfurling it on Maurice's desk. A few miles out from the town of Donegal, Taryn's parents had a friend who raised dragons professionally; however one dragon, a baby Connacht Irontail, had managed to escape and has been roaming the farms around Drumroosk since the early morning. Drumroosk, as it was, was sparsely populated and was mostly farmland, so the dragon was likely grazing off the land. Taryn had came up with the plan to catch the dragon herself, as Connacht Irontails slept during the day and only went out during the night, so as long as she could find and catch it during the day, they wouldn't have to worry about some poor muggle farmer being set upon during the night.

While the objective was to capture the dragon without harming it and bring it back to the dragon breeder in Drumgoman not far off, Taryn's muggle mother had insisted she take a hunting rifle with her, in case of an emergency. Taryn's mother was an accomplished tracker and hunter, and an ex-sniper in the Irish Army who had fought in Lebanon, and she taught her daughter how to hunt and fire her Winchester Model 70 almost as well as she could. Taryn had spent many a winter with her mom hunting the foxes that preyed upon their neighbor's farms, stalking the vicious hunters and keeping them away from the livestock.

"Are you seriously going t' wear that?"

Taryn's question started an entire chain-reaction; first Samuel tried to defend his jeans and t-shirt look, stating that it was far too hot to wear anything more, but Taryn persisted, and forced Samuel to go get the sturdiest pair of boots he had, as well as any gloves he owned. He came back wearing a pair of workman's boots and a pair of protective gloves. Taryn smirked but said nothing, and together the two went through the green flames to Taryn's home in Donegal.

* * *

It was late-afternoon, and several cows were grazing in a paddock, munching on the sparsely growing grass. It had been a bad summer so far, one of the hottest yet, and many farmers were panicking over the state of their vegetables. However, if the sleeping form currently hiding in a nearby bale of hay wasn't caught by the appropriate authorities, then dry vegetables would be the least of their worries.

Taryn and Samuel were currently positioned several miles away, looking through binoculars for any signs of the dragon. They had moved through several farms now, and had searched high and low for the allusive beast. Taryn had warned Samuel that the dragon may be hiding somewhere the sun can't penetrate, but she doubted it had entered a home or barn, but that still meant that the dragon could be completely invisible to the naked eye. They had seen a fox gingerly making its way to a chicken coop, and Taryn had taken off the rifle and set herself up in a prone, her eye on the scope.

"The trick is t' take slow breathes, and t' pull the trigger on the exhale," explained Taryn, following the fox's progress carefully. A dead fox now could mean a lot of live chickens later. The fox was approximately seventy yards away according to Taryn, and although she could take the shot, she wanted to first make sure the fox was trying to get a chicken.

"But why wait, if it's not going to go in now, it will another day," asked Samuel, also on his stomach, lying close to Taryn.

"Because a fox will hunt to survive, it's not his fault that his easiest source of food is a farmer's livestock. I'm hopin' ah bird will take his attention away."

Samuel blinked suddenly, remembering something. "But isn't it illegal to breed dragons? And there are only a few sanctioned dragon reserves in the world."

Samuel watched the fox get closer to the chicken coop, until it was less then ten yards away. From his distance he could see the red fur on it's back, and the way it pressed it's body down as flat as possible as it quietly inched its way forward. He saw a grim look enter Taryn's face, and suddenly her delicate face didn't look too delicate at all. He saw a classic beauty now, as if she was one of the warrior women of legend. She slid a finger to the trigger, and took a deep breathe.

The suppressor on the barrel took away the echoing blast a regular rifle would have made, and was almost anti-climatic when compared to the build-up of suspense. A cloud of blood burst around the fox's head, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to see it was dead.

"The farmer will come out in the mornin' and be glad," said Taryn, standing up.

"What about the Irontail?"

Taryn shrugged and slung the rifle back onto her shoulder. "I know it's around here somewhere, can't be more than five miles away. As for the illegal breedin', do you honestly care? The breeder hires ah small contingent of wizards from the Far-East to guard them while he breeds dragons for them; it's only this one that got away."

"Why do they want dragons?"

But Samuel didn't really need Taryn to answer that; dragons would make perfect guardians and war-beasts, and on the other hand it helped them stop going extinct.

"_Accio Irontail!"_

Taryn's wand span in her hand, but nothing happened. No dragon came flying out of the bush, nothing.

"Let's walk in the direction your wands pointing," suggested Samuel, stretching his arm and picking up his pack.

It was two farms over when the pair finally got some results. Casting the Summoning Charm got some results this time; a giant hundred-pound snoring lump came crashing out of a hay-stack, flying towards Taryn at a speed that would likely leave her on the ground. Dead.

At least it would have had the sleeping mass hit her. Samuel tackled the stunned blonde to the ground, and pulled out his own wand, just as a snarl erupted from the beast. Shaking its head after smacking face-first into an apple tree, the Connacht Irontail reared its head and bared its teeth.

The dragon could be considered small, Samuel guessed, it didn't appear to be that old. It was a grayish-black color, with glaring yellow eyes and large armor-like protrusions that ran up and down the back. But it was the tail that caught Samuel's eye; it was solid grey in color, and looked as if it was completely armored. No wonder it was called an Irontail.

The beast didn't move closer, but Samuel didn't dare taking a step anyway, he was completely rooted to the spot. Even a baby dragon was dangerous, especially one that could crack your skull open with ease.

Nearby a bird whistled, and was answered by another. Here in the farmlands of Ireland, Samuel was facing a dragon.

Samuel was reminded of a similar incident, back in Bahamutia. His teacher in charge of magical creatures had gotten hold of a herd of Wyvern; a flying reptilian creature with the head of a dragon and legs of a lizard, considered to be illegal in almost every country except a few, like Australia. The Wyvern had terrified Samuel, who while normally top of the class, could barely stand upright when faced with one of the snarling creatures, and when the instruction came to go and feed them a bucket of worms, Samuel had been the only one in his class to completely refuse to, and had stood on the far side of the grassy field. Just like back with the Wyverns, Samuel didn't dare move when faced with a dragon.

"He's scared," explained Taryn. "He won't move unless we come too close."

Just like me, thought Samuel bitterly. He had known he was scared of dragons and the like, but he hadn't been able to pass up an opportunity to meet up with Taryn ahead of the school year, and now he was in trouble.

Taryn slowly dropped her bag to the ground and knelt, pulling out what appeared to be a giant net. Taryn had no intention of using magic unless she really had to; firstly because most spells were useless against a dragon's tough hide, and secondly because the Trace would activate if magic is used in the presence of an under-age wizard and Taryn was sure Samuel didn't want to have to deal with all the bureaucratic red-tape.

Samuel watched as Taryn began to edge closer to the snorting dragon, net held up high. Taryn had mentioned to him during the day that she had been taught how to trap animals by her mother, but a dragon seemed to be far more dangerous then any fox could be.

Samuel's suspicions proved correct; the dragon didn't hesitated and charged forward at Taryn, who side-stepped and pulled out her wand, but the dragon was faster. Samuel watched in horror as the dragon span around, whipping its heavy tail at Taryn's left leg.

The sounds of bones crunching accompanied Taryn's terrible screams, and Samuel glimpsed a white shard of her femur poking out of her bloody thigh. Taryn was thrown onto her back, hands clenching and unclenching as her body wracked with agony.

"_Stupefy!_" Shouted Samuel, lunging at the triumphant dragon. A jet of red light erupted from the end of Samuel's blackthorn wand, but rebounded off the dragon's magic-resistant hide. He sent another Stunning Spell, hoping to hit a weak spot, but the dragon swung its tail, and batted the jet of light back towards Samuel, who jumped aside in the nick of time. Samuel needed to slow the dragon down long enough to catch him, and there were very few spells he could think of that would accomplish that.

"_Plumbumious Incarcerus!"_

A lead cage emerged from the end of Samuel's wand, growing larger as it hurtled towards the dragon, catching it inside and dropping down to the ground. He had caught the beast!

_Clang_

"Damn," whispered Samuel. The dragon had begun to swing its tail in a might arc, smashing it against the lead bars. Samuel's only hope was that the tail wasn't as strong as lead.

_Clang_

One of the bars began to bend a little from the strain.

"_Stupefy!" _shouted Samuel again, aiming at the dragon's exposed underbelly, but even then the spell was merely deflected. He had been taught that there were several weak spots on a dragon, but apparently that didn't apply to a Connacht Irontail. He looked towards Taryn, who was now sitting up, a large bloody bandage wrapped around her leg, her face pale and hair matted with sweat. She offered him a weak smile.

"Not my idea of ah perfect date exactly," panted Taryn, watching the dragon rail against the bars of the cage. "Any idea how t' calm him down?"

An idea popped into Samuel's head.

"_Petrificus Totalus!"_

The dragon stopped moving for a moment, and at first Samuel thought he had finally won, but after a few seconds the dragon was already able to move again. He needed a more complicated and powerful spell.

"_Locomotor Cage," _said Samuel, raising his wand. Slowly, the cage began to rise, a foot at a time. The dragon was oblivious to the change in altitude, hammering away at the now severely-bent bars. The cage reached ten feet, and then twenty before coming to a stop, dangling up high near top of the apple tree. The dragon made a final swing, and completely broke through the bars of the cage.

Momentum, Samuel decided, was now his best friend. Effectively, the dragon may have not been too effected by a twenty-foot drop, being as tough as it was, but since it had followed through with it's spin, the dragon had virtually swung itself towards the ground below, resulting in a thunderous thud, but Samuel was horrified to see that the dragon was only dazed, shaking it's head.

He inched closer to the stunned creature, taking one step at a time, his mind screaming at him for doing something so stupid. But Samuel persisted, and the moment he got close enough, pressed his wand against the beast's head and almost screamed his next spell.

"_Stupefy!_"

The dragon immediately slumped down, knocked out cold. Samuel couldn't believe it. He had brought down a dragon; true it was only a baby, but he figured that it was still a great accomplishment when you consider his usual dread of the creatures. But now he had another problem to worry about; Taryn was now lying on the ground, her breathing labored, eyes glazed over. Blood had stained her trousers, and Samuel had no idea how to Apparate. But Samuel wasn't the one Apparating right now.

A small group of wizards and witches wearing dark robes and armed to the teeth with an assortment of gadgets Apparated almost on top of Samuel, quickly fanning out, wands drawn. A witch with mousy brown hair and a pale, heart-shaped face quickly strode up to Samuel, and motioned another wizard to attend to Taryn.

"Wotcher, we received word that a wizard was using under-age magic in this area just a few minutes ago. A half-dozen Stunners, eh? We figured it wouldn't be some idiot firing blindly into the air, where did the Death Eaters head?" The witch seemed rather put out, as if she were tired and seemed to lack any enthusiasm.

"There aren't any Death Eaters," said Samuel, confused. "We were just trying to catch-"

"A dragon!" shouted one of the Aurors, aiming his wand at the unconscious creature. "We need a specialist here!"

Another Auror, this one dark-skinned and tall, disapparated as the mousy-haired witch shot an incredulous look at Samuel.

"You were taking down a baby dragon? You should have reported it to the Ministry as soon as you spotted it; we've got people who specialize in the capture of dragons."

Samuel was faced with a small problem. If he told the Auror that he had been invited to help Taryn catch the dragon for a local breeder, then all three of them stood to get into serious trouble. On the other hand, how was he supposed to explain that he and Taryn had just happened to walk through this farm when they were set upon by the Irontail. But it seemed the Auror didn't really want to have to deal with this strange scenario either.

"What's say I just report that you had been walking with your girlfriend here, and been attacked by a band of Death Eaters. My mates won't mind the lie too much, we've got bigger fish to fry and we'd rather just move on and hunt Death Eaters then have to stand witness in front of the Wizengamot and at the very most you'll be asked to go to the Ministry to testify."

Samuel sighed happily; he had met just the right witch it seemed.

"That'll be so great, thank you so much. What about Taryn?"

The witch pointed at her colleague who had binded the injured Irish girl to a stretcher. The wizard had then motioned to another Auror, and together had disapparated with the stretcher.

"She'll be in St Mungo's for the night likely, I'd suggest you go rest, and then visit her. What's your name?"

"Samuel Flinter, I'm new here."

"Call me Tonks. I've heard of you, and your grandfather. Want some help getting home?"

Samuel kept the seemingly-depressed Tonks company while they waited for a representative from the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau to arrive. They stood in near-silence while the sun got closer to the horizon ever so slowly and Samuel watched Tonks closely from the corner of his eye. Samuel always had a soft spot for people in a rough place, and wondered what Tonks was sad about, but he didn't want to ask her, for fear of angering her. It was really none of his business.

"Your grandfather died, right, and you came north to England." The silence was broken finally; Tonks had stopped staring across to the horizon and instead looked to Samuel. "You found yourself in a strange place and were offered a new chance to start life up here. Why'd you take it?"

"I'm not entirely sure," replied Samuel, truthfully. "I guess I wasn't happy where I was." Samuel had never liked Australia that much. He had always been a kind of outcast back in Bahamutia, and never made too many friends. True, he had two or three really good friends that he would miss, but it's not like he would never see them again.

"I guess I had never felt like I belonged there, like I was missing something."

"I can emphasize with that," mused Tonks. "Except I guess in my case it's not something, but someone."

"I miss my grandfather a great deal. I always used to write letters to him, telling him about different ideas I had, or have long discussions with him. Without him, I guess I've lost an anchor; even when I was down I could still rely on grandpa's letters," stated Samuel, leaning against a wooden fence that separated the farms. It was almost like a state of limbo, Samuel would tell himself. He was in between worlds now; one was where he had come from, the other where he was going. Funnily, he didn't find it strange to tell Tonks this, who nodded, agreeing with him. She too was getting over the loss of a loved one, a cousin who had died in a recent conflict with Death Eaters, and now she was trying to deal with a situation that wasn't leading anywhere. Samuel thought about asking what the situation was, but Tonks had the look of someone in love, that was now painfully obvious.

At last a wizard from the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau arrived, a stocky young man with long red hair tied back into a ponytail. He appeared to be quite muscular, with a weather-beaten face. He wore a long magenta robe with leather padding attached to the arms, leg and torso, and carried a broomstick in his left hand. He flashed a grin to Tonks.

"Alright, Tonks? I got Kingsley's message. If you see Moody, tell him we caught a couple of Death Eaters trying to steal dragon eggs in Romania."

The stocky wizard conjured a wooden crate and loaded the unconscious beast inside. Attaching the crate to his broomstick, he kicked off, slowly making his way south.

"But wouldn't the Ministry be upset if a muggle sees him?" Asked Samuel, confused at what had just occurred.

"If the Ministry found out, yeah they'd probably bring him before a court. Thing is, he's probably not even going to fly a mile on that thing. I'll bet you galleons to knuts that he's got some friends nearby, who can transport the dragon properly."

"He's not from the Ministry, is he?"

Tonks just shrugged and told Samuel not to worry about it and just to remember his cover story of being attacked by Death Eaters who wanted to kidnap him and his girlfriend. Taryn was injured when the cage the Death Eaters had conjured had flown into her.

"Time to go, Side-Along-Apparition it is, destination?"

Samuel thought for a moment. Not only did he need to tell Taryn the cover story, but he knew he'd be worrying too much to get any sleep; she was turning out to be a cool friend. "St Mungo's, please."


	4. Chapter 4: Brothers and Brutality

Author's Notes:  
Sorry about taking so long, been working alot more. Damn computers to the Abyss!  
I hope you all enjoy the chapter.  
By the way, the properties for this story state it as being Character 1: OC and Character 2: Ginny W.  
This doesn't mean that Samuel definately ends up with Ginny, rather, think of Character 1 being Taryn as the two are Samuel's main interests.  
Any feedback would be appreciated, any questions too. I'll be answering questions on a youtube video soon that i'll post the link to on my profile page.

* * *

There was nothing.

Not a light.

Not a sound.

Somewhere in the deep reaches of eternity, she could barely even feel her own body. She tried to flex her fingers to no avail, her digits refusing to flex in any way possible. Looking down, she couldn't, see her own legs. She felt rather cold as if a light breeze was blowing over her, everything felt numb.  
A purple light washed over her, casting her silhouette in a myriad of colors that drew magnificent shadows upon the void. Red, green, blue, purple and orange whirled around her head, forming into streaks of light and slashing at her clothes, plucking long strings out of her body. Her blouse fell to the floor, followed by her bloody trousers. The string flowed out of her clothes, unraveling them to nothing while they whirled around her, the strings coming from her body joining them. She felt strangely serene as the string came spilling out of invisible orifices; peeling away at her being and spirit, meshing together into a mass-less hole, invisible to the eye and impossible to resist. Hunger and thirst flew away into the void as rage and hatred tore into her, rending bloody holes upon her. Blinding anger made her thrash in a hundred directions; flailing her weakened arms as light literally tore out of her, until she was nothing but a human, so much less then what she was to begin with. She was alone and frightened in a dark void, where light was night and her spirit was marked. She ran at the hole, trying to grab the edges and pull herself together once more.  
She heard her mother, then her father. Sweet melodies of her youth came to her, a beam of sound piercing her ears while a heavy presence pushed down on her. She felt pained; she was choking, pressured by the force holding her down while she wanted to cry out. Her mother was crying, repeating the same name over and over: Taryn.

That was her name; she was Taryn. She was now a human with the name of Taryn, but she knew not what she was or when she was. The sound of crying stopped and the force pushing her down disappeared, and for a moment she was still, and all around her was empty and quiet. She took a single step in the void, fearing what she would find if she continued. Staring around, she felt the hole pulling at her once again, wanting to take even more. She let herself go with it.  
An immense pain blossomed from within her chest; her hands scrabbled to remove the offending feeling while she pulled her head back and let out a blood-curling scream, her blood frozen in her veins while she scratched at her soft skin. She opened a gash in her stomach, screaming as if all the hounds of Hell were chewing into her insides. A torrential downpour of blood fell from her stomach as she was pulled further and further into the hole, feeling herself fall apart and come together over and over. She screwed her eyes shut, hoping to block out her own non-existence.

Then it stopped.

Opening her eyes, Taryn realized she was lying in a thin bed carved into the shape of a coffin, her naked body brushing on the soft velvet lining. She couldn't move her arms or legs, nor could she even begin to feel anything at all. She stared straight up at the night sky, hearing nothing at all. A man dressed in black formal robes walked past, staring down into the coffin as he passed with a teary face. Several more people dressed all in black passed, staring down at her; some crying while some supporting their loved ones. She felt she knew all these people, but another thought pushed it away. If she knew these people, then wouldn't they help her?

A teenager with shoulder-length brown hair came next, tears openly pouring down his face. Taryn wanted to scream out, she wanted to shout that she was okay and everything was fine, but nothing came out. She wanted to cry, to weep tears for this handsome youth who was now staring down at her with such love that she felt like her heart would burst. She looked up into his eyes, the green and brown appearing watery through the tears. She longed to reach up and place her hand upon his cheek, to reassure him that she was okay, and that this was all just a trick, but she couldn't. She wanted to apologize so badly, but now something was changing. His eyes were hardening, and a smirk appeared on his face. Taryn let out one final scream as Samuel thrust his hand into her chest, jerking her awake.

This time she lay in a hospital bed, and Taryn recognized the room as being in St Mungo's. Her heart pounding from her recent ordeal, Taryn laid back and attempted to calm down, breathing deeply. A vase filled with bouquets of flowers stood in the corner of the room, each bouquet with a card attached, while a giant stuffed teddy bear waited by the door. By her feet lay a pile of her clothes, as well as someone she definitely didn't want to see at that point of time. Taryn let out a gasp and shivered; slumped in a chair by her bed with his head cradled near her legs was Samuel Flinter. She felt cold and naked, and looked under the blanket. She began to slightly panic once more as she realized she was indeed 'in the buff' and wondered why no one had dressed her in a hospital robe. Sitting up, Taryn took a comb from the corner table by the bed and began brushing out her hair, carefully removing any knots she found. She felt strange just sitting there like that, and wanted some clothes, but she was unsure if she wanted to get up while Samuel was sleeping there. Taryn had no idea if he was a light sleeper or a deep sleeper, and if even the slightest movement would wake him. Getting out of the bed slowly, dragging one of the light blankets with her, Taryn tiptoed to the collection of clothes gathered at the end of her bed.  
Dropping the blanket, she began dressing in a pair of jeans and a light top; she pulled a dark vest over and felt secure at last. Checking her pockets and a quick scan of the room let her know her wand wasn't in sight. She began to walk back over to the corner table when she froze. Samuel's eyes were open.

Taryn couldn't bear to move, and felt the blood rushing to her face. She wanted to cry out and slug him, but she couldn't, she was still scared. She felt the seconds tick by, until an entire minute had passed and still neither moved. Taryn's eyes were glued onto Samuel's, trying to see any kind of surprise in them, but they were cold.

"S-Samuel?"

No answer.

"Samuel, are you alright then? I'm sorry about that; I didn't know you were awake."

Still no answer was forthcoming. A chill rolled up Taryn's spine. She took a few tentative steps towards the bed and looked closely at Samuel. He was dressed strangely; his boots, trousers, jacket, it was all part of a uniform. Taryn couldn't understand for the life of her why Samuel was wearing the British army uniform, especially the uniform of the Rifles Regiment. Even more curiously was a tattoo peaking out of the top of his collar; the top half of a Joker card tattooed onto his collarbone and travelling up to the bottom of the neck. At his belt was a holster with a pistol and against the wall behind him was an old rifle, its wooden butt scratched and blotchy with dried blood.

Then he toppled over.

Taryn almost squeaked as he crumpled on the floor, the profusely bleeding wound in his stomach now visible through the ripped cloth. Taryn screamed and grabbed her head with both hands, trying to shut out the scene, but a sticky substance covered her hands. Reluctantly, trying to keep Samuel out of her line of sight, she looked at her hands.

They were covered in blood.

She had killed Samuel.

Taryn barreled out of the room, shaking her head, her eyes wide open while tears streamed and splashed in echoing puddles behind her as she ran. She ran and ran, tearing out of the hospital and into the dark night, not caring who saw or heard her. Samuel had saved her life, and she had killed him. She ran past the empty muggle shops, closed for the night while the owners slept at night, not knowing that a murderer was at that point running past their stores. Lightning struck in the distance releasing a boom of thunder of epic proportions. Again and again, the lightning and thunder rang out, almost blinding Taryn. Rain poured down upon her, leaving her a puddle of human misery. She finally couldn't handle it anymore, and came to a stop.

Panting, Taryn screamed her throat raw. The blood on her hands almost shone, her eyes unable to take themselves off the blood. She felt herself heaving; once, twice then she threw up. At first a mixture of pizza and pasta came out, some of it brown and murky. Taryn felt like heaving at the sight of it.

Then a finger came up and out, its bloody form mirrored in Taryn's eyes a thousand-times over. She almost stopped at the sight of it, turning away before continuing. She just couldn't take it anymore.

"No more… no more," Taryn whispered hoarsely. "Please, just… stop."

"Cad é atá cearr?"

"I think I killed h-him. I killed Samuel," replied Taryn, dropping onto the ground, her eyes unable to focus properly. Nothing made sense anymore, her mind was screaming at her, she begged that madness take her and rid her of the guilt.

"Sea, shábháil sé dom an trioblóid."

"I don't even know why I did it. I think I liked him; he saved me from real trouble the other day. Day? Week? Year? He was cool, and he didn't make fun of my outfit when we went hunting the Connacht Irontail. I thought he looked cool as he fought against it. Why did I do it?"

"Toisc go raibh tú ar."  
"N-no, I didn't," Taryn hestitated, and drew her finger across the puddle of blood gathering on the floor.

"Tá sé conas a ritheann an domhain. Do chineál agus do mhuintir i gcónaí a bhí ar an láthair bog do chumhacht, agus do sinsear raibh aon éagsúla. Go gairid Beidh tú ag teacht ar thuiscint agus do cinniúint éileamh."

"No... No, it won't happen to me. You won't tempt me like you did my Mamó."

"Beidh tú. Look at me."

Taryn didn't want to. The last thing she wanted to do was to look up. But she was asked to, and to not would be considered very rude, something her parents always wanted to instill in her. Sure, she was brought up to be independant, but manners was an essential part of intergrating with society, and her father would never stand for a daughter of his being rude. Slipping her hands over her head, trying to combat her every feeling to look away and run, she raised her eyes slowly.

* * *

"What's happening?" shouted Samuel, pushing down Taryn's wildly flailing arms as she woke with a start and began screaming in Gaelic. It had only been a day since the accident, and Samuel had begged to be allowed to stay the night by the bed, snuggled up in a sleeping bag. He had spend the entire night up, unable to fall asleep; had paced around in Taryn's room, looking down at her serene face as she slept. He sat by the chair next to her bed, and rest his elbows on the bed. Samuel couldn't stop gazing at Taryn; she just seemed so elegant, even asleep. She was intelligent, in a worldly sort of way. If he had been the one aiming the rifle at the fox, he would of shot the fox the first chance he got, but Taryn actually waited to see what the fox was doing before deciding it had to be done. She seemed to genuinely dislike shooting the animal, but it was for the best, so she did it.

But now she was awake, her eyes wide open and mouth screaming an unintelligle mess of Gaelic. Samuel didn't want to hurt her, but now he was afraid she was going to hurt herself, bruises would heal but some things wouldn't be so easy. A group of Healers were trying to calm her down, at first bringing potion after potion to Taryn's lips only to be rejected. Various calming wards and charms were cast, only to have no effect of the teen. At last one Healer had enough, and cast a non-verbal spell that hit the thrashing Taryn in the chest, freezing her still. He apologized to Samuel, but he saw there was no other solution. The Healer-in-Charge of the Fistandirk Ward, Rosamun, performed several spells, rectifiying the now-broken corner desk while summoning a new flask of a strange orange potion from the other room.

"It's quite rare that we see this sort of thing happen without a stimuli," Rosamun said, measuring out a small dosage of the potion. "In fact, it's been almost twenty years if the symptoms are correct."

"What's happening to her?"

Rosamun slipped the spoon into the stunned girl's mouth and poured it down, then massaged her throat. "It's something she has to tell you herself, I'm afraid. Patient-Healer confidentiality you know. She'll be alright in a minute, I'll lift the Stunning spell." Rosamun performed the counter-spell, then waited for a moment as Tarwyn came back to her senses before making a bee-line for the exit, saying she'd be back in a few moments.

Taryn looked at Samuel, her eyes quivering.

"How are you doing? I brought you flowers," asked Samuel, before producing a big bouquet with a card attached. "Your family and relatives also left flowers," he continued, gesturing towards the large vase by the wall, but Taryn's eyes just grew wider, before bursting into tears. Samuel jumped, then wrapped his arms around Taryn, trying to tell her it would be okay.

"Shhhh, Shhhh, It's alright now, don't worry. I'm here." Samuel felt awkward only for a moment; he realized how strange the scene would seem. He barely knew Taryn, but he felt an odd connection to her, like she was already a good friend of his.

"N-n-n-no, I killed y-y-y..."

"You didn't kill anyone, calm down girl, I can't understand what your talking about. Your safe in St Mungo's now. Here, your brother left this." Standing for a moment, Taryn couldn't see what he picked up through her blurry eyes, but felt the furry warmth of a teddy bear. She shook harder, her nightmares haunting her once more.

"I'm really sorry about all that. I don't really know what came on me, I hope you don't think I'm strange," apologized Taryn for the tenth time, shaking her head as she did. "I just had some terrible dreams, and I guess I thought I was still dreamin'."

Samuel shook his head and offered her a chocolate frog, which she gladly took and bit into. Samuel had to suppress a chuckle; she looked so cute carefully biting the head off the frog. "Hmmm, you got Medea. She was kind of a mean bitch, wasn't she?"

"She killed her kids, right?"

"She killed alot of people. Loved poisoning people. Apparently Circe is her aunt or something, but they didn't like each other that much. While Medea would remove anyone in her way, Circe only transformed those who offended her into pigs and stuff," answered Samuel nonchalantly, opening a pumpkin pastry and biting into it.

"Like half of the poisons around nowadays are supposed to be originally brewed by Medea. It's kind of depressing; one woman from thousands of years ago created a legacy that has the power to kill people without them realizing." The two sat in silence.

"Enough of this gloom, let's count up your cards, I'm sure as hell that the Healers have already contacted your parents about what happened this morning, it'll calm them down to see you fine and well." Samuel picked up another pile of unopened Chocolate Frogs and dumped them unceremoniously onto the bed.

Taryn knew that this facade was useless. This wasn't the first time that she'd go 'nuttier then a case of cashews' as her brother put it, even after she would inform him that cashews were legumes, not nuts. The first time this had happened was with her brother, but Faolán had taken care of her that time, holding her until she would calm down and fall back into a dreamless sleep. The last time it had occured, Faolán had already finished Hogwarts and was out of the country, leaving her parents completely uncertain what to do as Taryn charged through the house, smashing every single thing they owned while bawling her eyes out. She had stormed across the countryside, unable to control herself in a state of perpetual rage at herself. She had woken up in St Mungos a few days later, her parents explaining her broken bones as being caused by a fall off a cliff near the coast. 'No real reason to tell anyone about the dreams themselves, its the disassociation with reality when I wake up which is the problem, i'm sure of it,' thought Taryn.

During the fifteen minutes that passed before Taryn's parents came to St Mungos, Taryn had preoccupied herself with the Chocolate Frog cards, sorting through the pile of cards that soon began growing on the corner table as the duo ripped them open with relish. Samuel tried not peeking at Taryn down-turned head as she sorted out the medieval witches and wizards from the more modern ones, but he was still puzzled about what had gone on. It had only been an hour, yet she seemed to have calmed down almost ridiculously quickly, and what had she meant about committing murder. Samuel's thoughts were broken by the arrival of Taryn's family; her lean mother leaning down and engulfing her daughter in a tight hug while her father; a middle-aged wizarding businessman with grey at the temples shook Samuel's hand.  
They had all met last night at the hospital when Taryn had been brought in after the encounter with the dragon; it had turned out not only was the left femur snapped in several places, her knee cap was in splinters and part of her tibia had been broken. Taryn's parents had been horrified upon seeing their daughter's condition, but they had been overjoyed after learning that Samuel had effectively saved her from death. Taryn had never told her parents that she had volunteered to find the Irontail; the Dragon Breeder they knew neglected informing them of their daughter's helpful nature.  
"How's she been?" Mr. O'Laighin pulled Samuel to the side and asked him quietly, looking at his daughter's enthusiastic conversation in Gaelic with her mother. "I know she seems like a confident girl; hunting ah dragon takes guts, but she's ah sweet, sensitive girl. I'm glad you helped her out; if you're ever in the area, don't be ah stranger."

"No problem Mr. O'Laighin, thank you very much," said Samuel, shaking his hand.  
"No, please call me Cairbre." The two looked towards the women, before Mr. O'Laighin touched his wife on the shoulder, the two leaving the room to invite in Taryn's brothers and sisters. Faolán politely introduced himself to Samuel while Taryn's other brother and two sisters went and hugged her. Faolán was a tall youth; possibly six and a half feet tall with a lean build and cropped blonde hair. He smiled and shook Samuel's hand, asking him about back home and how was he handling the changes. Faolán was a few years older then Samuel and after travelling the world and coming back home, he had joined the army and followed his mother's footsteps in becoming a sniper.

Allison and Laoise were the youngest, twins one year younger then Samuel; both sporting their father's just under-average height and almost glazed-over blue eyes. Maon, was keeping quiet. After a quick hug and inquest into his sister's health, Maon kept to the corner and watched the goings on with mild interest, only narrowing his bright blue eyes when they laid on Samuel.

"Oh, don't mind him, the cocky bastard's always hated other guys hanging 'round our sisters. Just last year, apparently he went and challenged one of Laoise's 'suitors' to a Wizard Duel," explained Faolán, watching his younger brother.

"What happened?"

Faolán looked down. "Maon isn't as good as a duelist as he likes to think. Lost the duel, so he went and bashed the kid's face in. Nearly went and got kicked out of Hogwarts too; but his grades are excellent and he promised never to do such ah thing again. Well, atleast get caught doin' it again." Looking back at the stocky six-foot high brother to see him staring right back at Samuel started to make him nervous, but Samuel was spared the ordeal by the arrival of two more witches.

Overburdened with large gifts and stacks of well-wishing cards, two young witches which Samuel reckoned to be his own age or even older entered; both witches wearing their dark hair long and worried smiles on their faces. They dropped the gifts in a pile at the foot of the bed and all-but-leapt at Taryn, chattering non-stop.

"Are you alright-"  
"Yes, i'm okay now Katie-"  
"You must have been so scared and-"  
"Were you hurt really badly, my mum said-"

Wearing a bemused smile, Samuel waved to Taryn and began to walk to the door hoping to grab a coffee, but Taryn poked her head out of the way of the wave of questions and told him to come meet her friends. Pushing the twins over to make room for Samuel to lean by the bed, Taryn began to make all the introductions. One-by-one Samuel shook the hands of the twins and the other two witches, who turned out to be school friends from Hogwarts. Leanne blushed when Samuel outstretched his hand, but Katie enthusiastically shook his hand and asked him about Australia and his school back then.

"Well, I can already say for a fact I prefer it here," Samuel answered, then continued to chat with the group of witches and asnwer all their queries about his life in Australia and feelings about Europe while Faolán pulled Maon out of the room to go for a walk. "He doesn't like me much," Samuel said, referring to Maon after the brothers left the room, but the girls just looked uncomfortable for a moment. Only Leanne looked confused, and broke the silence by finally asking a question of her own, asking Samuel if he knew anyone from Hogwarts yet, apart from those present.

"Well, you might know my cousin Samantha who goes to Hogwarts." The girls nodded. "I didn't really know anyone when I first got here, but I met a few people here and there. Do you girls know a Hermione Granger and a Ron Weasley?" Again, the girls nodded, Katie commenting that she and Ron were on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team together. "And there's Ron's sister, Ginny. I guess that's it so far, well, now I know all of you."

It was such a diverse group to be a part of, Samuel reflected. He was never one for climbing social ladders and had always found it hard to talk in a group, but he found it quite easy to answer all the girls' questions and crack a few jokes here and there. He also had an interesting time watching Leanne. A cute girl, she seemed extremely shy and would look down at her shoes almost constantly whenever Samuel spoke, but the moment Katie began to talk she would nod her head and begin to speak before squeaking and falling quiet when she noticed Samuel listening to her.

Katie reminded Samuel of one of his friends back home, Yvonne. Like Yvonne, Katie seemed very friendly and intelligent, and Taryn seemed to value her company alot. Katie began to recount what had happened during the Yule Ball almost two years ago, and fondly remembered the reaction her bookish friend had gotten when the entire school realized that she was absolutely gorgeous.

The twins were a bit much for Samuel; self-obsessed and worring about eachother's makeup, but Samuel politely paid attention to them too, even if he normally wouldn't bother with people like that. He had never liked the fashion divas or gossping bitches back home, and he certainly didn't think it would be much different here.

"I'm probably going to head to Diagon Alley after this with Leanne to get our school books for the year," stated Katie, twisting a strand of hair between two fingers nervously. With the heightened threat of Voldemort's return and the recent murders and kidnapping, no one liked to go out anymore without proper protection. The Ministry of Magic already had all of its Aurors tied up guarding strategic points, Ministry Officials, Hogwarts and the Ministry itself; it could barely donate any protection to Diagon Alley at all, but that was where people like Mr. O'Laighin came in.  
Wizards who held shares or owned businesses that were conducted on Diagon Alley could pay a fee and hire their own protection. Nightblades from the Far East who would keep to the shadows, leaping out to protect their employers the moment they sensed dark magic of any type. Battlemages trained in the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark work various trinkets of magical power as they patrolled Diagon Alley dressed in fine steel breastplates capable of turning aside a stunning spell. Most businessmen would hire from either faction, the two considered the best in all the wizarding world, but occasionaly arguments would rise. On the rare occasion a Nightblade would be seen by a Battlemage, the latter would assume the worst and attack, trying to strike the darkly-clad silhouette as though it were a Death Eater. Taryn's father, being a wealthy businessman in the wizarding world was able to afford the fees to hire a bodyguard for his daughter and so had hired a Nightblade to follow her whenever she was in London, but Ireland was considered safe enough for her to travel alone.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Maybe you can get a few people to go with you," asked Taryn, looking concerned. She knew neither Katie or Leanne could afford a bodyguard, so their only other choice was to go in a big group of people.

"It's fine, some of the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs will be going too, we'll probably meet up with them at the Leaky Cauldron before we shop. We're getting a long table even though we booked just a few hours ago," said Katie. "Do you want to come along Samuel? You'll be able to meet a few people from your year level too."

"I'm technically allowed to leave now for a while, so I might as well. Who's going?" asked Taryn before Samuel could reply.

"Ernie McMillian, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Zarah Richter, Christine Romany, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Emily Dumas, Heather Clearwater, ummmm... Leanne's coming, I think Neville Longbottom might come if he escapes his grandmother's clutches and Seamus said he might he us there."

The room was dead quiet. Samuel shot a questioning look at Katie.

"It's because of Harry, you know who he is right?"  
Samuel nodded. The legend of 'The Boy who Lived' probably circulated Australia just as much as it circulated around England. A baby managed to defeat the Dark Lord where all others had failed, and had only a scar on his forehead to account for it. Since he had started at Hogwarts, Potter had foiled the Dark Lord's plans four times since then.

"Well, at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Harry lost his godfather. Hermione told me he's been shutting himself in all the time since then, so i'm not sure how he will act in public anymore."

* * *

"Where in Hecate's name is he?" Demanded Taryn of Hermione and Ron, who turned up over an hour late. "The Healers are only letting me out until it gets dark." Hermione and Ron looked rather flustered, and greeted everyone there before turning back to Taryn. "He's not coming."

"Still sulking?"

"Taryn!" Exclaimed Hermione. "He's dealing really hard with his godfather's death. How would you feel if someone close to you died?"

"My grandmother died two years ago and Samuel's grandfather died only a few weeks ago, you don't see him being an arse. It's called accepting loss, we both did so why can't he? I'm not saying he's a total pussy for doing this, but he really should get his head out of the sand and get on with life."  
A stout boy with carefully combed blonde hair spoke up. "Now, isn't all this just a tad too much? He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has taken many loved ones in the past, both recently and during his first reign and I must say that I'm rather surprised in Harry. Susan Bones is here today, even though her aunt recently passed away at You-Know-Who's very hands! I would say its rather insulting, wouldn't you, Susan?"  
But Susan remained silent, trying not to look at anyone, but a glare from Hermione and Ernie's suddence flinch in pain spoke well of what she thought.

Ron just looked dumbfounded, but Hermione seemed thoughtful. "It is getting a bit ridiculous," she acceded. "I'm going to have a good talk with him tommorow, Ron, your helping me. Are we all here?"

Looking around the room, Samuel tried to place a name to each new person he had met, but it would be tough so he did what he had never done before in his life: he strode forward and mingled.

* * *

"Have you seen my pink... wait, here it is!"

Samuel glanced to the side where Samantha was sitting by her dresser, collecting clothes to pack in her suitcase. The two had been packing in their own rooms, but Samuel had finished first considering most of his clothes were still in the suitcase he had come with. Now Samantha was harrassing a pink tube top, trying to stuff it into her already-bulging suitcase. It had almost been two weeks since he had gone hunting for the dragon with Taryn, and since then had been very busy settling all his accounts with the lawyers before the school year started, but still found time to send and recieve a few letters.

"Why the hell are you lying on my bed? Get out of my room!" Samantha shouted distractedly. Samantha was now frantic now, eyeing a spare suitcase her father had brought out incase her own suitcase had broken. Samuel ignore d her and just stared up at the ceiling. The weather was rather mild, a welcome change from the usual sweltering weather in Australia. It amused him it first, how little these Europeans could take in terms of the hotter aspects of the weather. What was considered 'hot' here in England was considered 'mildly warm' in Melbourne. He would have loved to see how these Englishmen would have survived one-hundred degrees Fahrenheit and over during the summer, sometimes hitting one-hundred-and-twenty and over.

Raistlin, whom Maurice allowed to fly about the house as long as he didn't disturb anything, glided into the room and landed on the polished wooden floor. Casting a critical eye on Samantha, the raven jumped up onto the bed and nestled itself on Samuel's stomach. Samuel petted the bird absently, thinking of what was coming. Tomorrow he would be at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and he was most definitely nervous.

"-so Ginny said Hermione told Harry off, and now he's kind of speaking again and not just avoiding the daylight. How come you didn't invite me to come to Diagon Alley with you, that was so mean!"

"For the last time, I didn't even come home before going out and Raistlin was here, how was I supposed to tell you?"

"You could have borrowed an owl."

Samuel sighed. His cousin had been pestering him about this since he had gone out, always giving the same argument. True was, he could understand why as Samantha would have had very few opportunities to go to Diagon Alley, with this current crisis and all, but Samuel still got a bit annoyed. Once more he let his mind wander, and thought once more of Taryn's recent injury, the drunken party he had thrown the night before, Ginny's run-in with his uncle and his own impeding trip to join Hogwarts.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Now, here's a question: Who can guess what House Taryn is in, and why? Fifty points to whoever can get it right.  
Oh your all going to love the next chapter, and no, it doesn't take place in Hogwarts, we'll be going back a day or two earlier...


	5. Chapter 5: Parties and Plans

Author Notes:

Enjoyed writing this one, enjoy like usual =D

* * *

It was a dark afternoon where we could find the Flinter family; the sun had taken shelter behind the clouds and was threatening to stay there until the clouds stop puffing up and would calm down, but even then the heat was driving many of the inhabitants of Newcastle. It was only a few days before the Hogwarts Express would charge its way across Britain towards Hogwarts, and Samantha was waiting for Ginny Weasley to come over. They were planning to celebrate the end of the holidays with a small party with fellow friends from their year level, but Samantha had another motive for having Ginny come to her house first.

Sitting on her polished wooden desk was a small pink glass bottle, a picture of a winking witch printed on it. Ginny's twin brothers, Fred and George, had assured her at their shop that it would work as printed. When they found out who she wanted to use them on, they sold her an entire box of the potion at a considerably lower price, leaving Samantha with enough love potions to enchant a guy for weeks. What the twins didn't tell Samantha was that the potions she had received was actually part of their own stock, each bottle at least six months matured and far more powerful than any of the potions they sold up in the front.

Sighing, Samantha picked up the potion and left her room. Her father was at work and Samuel was probably getting ready for his friends to come over. Going down the stairs, she could hear Samuel muttering to himself in his room, opening and closing his wardrobe and throwing clothes across the room. Raistlin, Samuel's thick-billed raven, was lying on the mantle above the front door, staring down at Samantha as she came to the bottom of the stairs.

"Open here I flung the shutter, when with many a flirt and flutter, in stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore."

Raistlin's beady eyes were now both settled on Samantha.

"Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; but with mien or lord or lady, perched above my chamber door…" Samantha stopped and turned left, embarrassed slightly. She loved the poem by Edgar Allen Poe, and had committed it to memory oh so long ago. Since Samuel had brought home Raistlin and her father had allowed him free flight, Raistlin would often watch her or even sit with her and she couldn't help but recite her favorite passages once more.

Pulling a pitcher of pumpkin juice from the fridge, Samantha tipped the bottle of love potion into the pitcher and stirred it carefully, watching as the pink potion mixed in and disappeared. The plan was almost impossible for her to screw up. Ginny would come over and from there the trap would be sprung. As long as she calmed down and offered Ron a drink of pumpkin juice than she would have him at last. For years she thought of him, her friendship with Ginny allowing her to see him even outside of school. He was tall, funny and even a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Ron was brave and loyal; he had stood up for his friends when they were antagonized and had even braved Death Eaters, but he had eyes only for one girl.

Everyone with half a brain knew that Ron and Hermione fancied each other, and Samantha thought this was a huge shame. It was unimaginable for them to ever find eternal happiness together, Samantha had been told by an emotional and slightly unstable Melisande Cerine, who had a major crush on Hermione. In just a few minutes Ginny and Ron would arrive and at last her long nights of sighs and planning would end.

* * *

Samuel was pissed off. He knew he had left his light brown trousers back in Australia and his favorite over-sized checkered shirt, and now he was left with whatever he had remembered to pack. Finally settling on a pair of khaki shorts and a white t-shirt emblazoned with some Kanji that Samuel didn't understand, he then went about packing up again. Cleaning out Raistlin's cage, Samuel realized that he had already begun thinking of this place as his proper home. He had made friends and now he was off to be taught under the watchful eye of the world's most powerful wizard.

Of course, that would also include being sorted into a School House; something he wasn't exactly looking forward to. His new friends had told him about the Houses, each speaking much praise about Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw while badmouthing Slytherin. He wasn't worried too much about getting into Slytherin; after all, apparently one could veto the Sorting Hat's choice. Each of his friends had almost begged him to join their houses, and this made it quite difficult to choose.

Gryffindor chose the chivalrous and the brave; Samuel didn't particularly feel chivalrous at all, he would gladly throw sand in an opponent's eyes when they were down and as far as bravery went, he supposed that whole ordeal with the baby dragon was brave but he's not sure whether he would have stayed and fought with it if Taryn hadn't been injured.

Ravenclaw seemed interesting, valuing intelligence, wit and logic above all else. While Samuel would never say so to anyone else, he did consider himself quite intelligent and he loved the frequent game of chess to keep his mind working like a perfectly oiled machine, but he wasn't sure if they were his top priorities.

Friendship, patience, hard word and good sportsmanship; Hufflepuff valued these traits the highest, but Samuel thought it was rather strange. Members from any of the houses could have these traits yet how do some people actually end up in Hufflepuff? And for that matter, cross-house traits seemed very-common indeed to Samuel.

He thought about his new friends. Certainly, if he joined Gryffindor then he'd be closer to Ginny, Hermione and Katie, but he what about the Hufflepuffs he had met? Leanne, Ernie and Susan. Then there was Ravenclaw…

"What house is Taryn in anyways?" Samuel mused aloud. He had never asked the Irish lass as it hadn't seemed important at the time. He resolved to ask her tonight when she came over with everyone else. He had invited some of his new friends, and was expecting everyone at roughly 7'oclock.

"Fucking hell! What a berk!"

Samantha screamed as she stormed upstairs, and barreled into Samuel's room. "Ginny can't come over, and Ron said to tell you that he can't either, the bloody wanker."

"And you're screaming at the top of your lungs why?"

"Because I was going to bloody seduce the dodgy bunt and his sister, and now's he's gone off? No, it's because now Ginny can't come, is it impossible to believe I'm pissed?" Samantha sat down on Samuel's desk chair and spun around, waving her arms wildly. Samuel looked at her quizzically. "Have you been drinking?"

Samantha jumped up from the chair and slugged Samuel on the left arm. "I don't bloody drink, it's just now you'll have all your friends over and I can't even have one 'cause it's already bloody six o'clock!" Opening the door, she stopped for a second. A strange look crossed her face before she spoke. "There's a jug of pumpkin juice in the fridge, and a whole bunch of soft drinks in there."

"You do know that you can just join us? We'll be watching a few movies and stuff."

Samantha just nodded and her head and left the room. Outside in the corridor, Samantha was stifling her laughter; tears were streaming from her eyes. She knew that there was no way Samuel would even touch the stuff after he refused on the grounds of "it tastes like absolute crap" but he wouldn't be so picky later in the night if he got maggoted. Flipping her red hair away from her face, Samantha found it very hard not to walk with a spring in her step.

* * *

It was already midnight when the partiers finally had started leaving, not including those who simply couldn't get up. Ernie had taken Susan home while Hermione had gone home on the grounds that engaging in drunken behavior just wasn't her thing. By two o'clock Katie was lying on the bear rug, nestling like a cat which had recently won an award for best napping method. Samantha had come down for the movies, but had been sent to bed by her father earlier in the night. Samuel had sprawled himself on the Italian leather sofa, resting his head on a comfy pillow he had found while Taryn had in turn somehow fallen asleep lying on the headrest above him, at any moment threatening to fall and crash into Samuel. They had all gotten exceedingly drunk, having polished off several bottles of knotgrass mead, firewhiskey and another bottle of tequila Samuel's uncle had contributed before retiring for the night.

They had indeed watched two movies as they originally planned to, but at some point Taryn had conjured a game of Twister from somewhere and instituted a policy of drinking into the game. Every time a player screwed up, he or should would have to take a shot of firewhiskey. Samuel wasn't very good at this and failed a lot, resulting in his current drunken stage, but he wasn't the only one. Leanne had been dreadful and had kept crashing down onto him, which left her passed out for most of the night but she had woken up a few minutes ago to use the lavatory.

Clicking off the lights to the bathroom, Leanne came back into the den and found Samuel sitting up, almost knocking Taryn's legs off the sofa as he yawned. Standing in the threshold, Leanne looked at Taryn and Samuel. She was so beautiful, Leanne could admit. She had always felt bad when she compared herself to Taryn. They were complete opposites; Taryn was intelligent, wise and cool while Leanne was just… there. She was never in the spotlight for anything; she had never even had a boyfriend. Katie told her over and over that she was cute and that the right guy would come along, but she knew her expression put people off. It wasn't like she didn't have her fair few crushes too, but she was too scared to ask; she couldn't stand the rejection.

But along came Samuel, the handsome guy from Australia. He seemed so different from people here, and was full of interesting stories and quips about everything. He didn't seem like he was trying to be popular, but he was very friendly, often striking up conversations with those people who might be shy. He had talked to her about a few everyday things, but when she had told Samuel that she played piano, he was overjoyed. Samuel also played piano and said he would love to play a duet with her sometime. That really gave her something to look forward to, and when Samuel commented on her black hair looking so luxurious and perfect, she blushed. Here they all were, laughing and having a good time. For the first time in months, everyone was completely relaxed and had temporarily forgotten about You-Know-Who and Harry Potter.  
Everyone gathered around Harry Potter like he was a beacon of hope in the darkness but Leanne didn't really feel the same way. She felt detached from the war; there would be no real purpose of You-Know-Who murdering her as she didn't fill any real position in the scheme of things. Of course she was scared of him and had always been careful not to walk by herself anywhere, but she didn't idolize Harry Potter as many people did. Dark Wizards came and went with the tides; if You-Know-Who was defeated then it was just an amount of time until another one came along.

She had seen her first muggle movie today, and found it absolutely fascinating how they could capture memories so perfectly from different perspectives. They had first watched a hilarious movie about an Indian man who had failed at being an actor in Hollywood being invited accidently to a director's party at his lavish estate. Leanne had tears flowing from her eyes as she nearly cracked a rib laughing as he drove half the guests at the party utterly insane. These gags were far more entertaining than the things the Weasley twins used to get up to and she couldn't stop herself talking about the movie afterwards. It was only then Taryn explained that it wasn't really.

"They are only actors; they pretend t' be characters an' are filmed by cameras according t' ah script. This was ah very popular comedy amongst the muggles years back."

"You mean there's more?" Asked Leanne incredulously. "Seeing a photograph is nothing compared to these."

Samuel took this opportunity to offer something a little more 'out there'. Pushing a tape into the VCR player, Leanne was introduced to the world of Star Wars. She almost fell off the couch when she saw star ships firing lasers at each other in space, teared up when she saw what happened to the aunt and uncle on their farm, and exclaimed loudly when the man in black used what appeared to be magic to choke a man without touching him.

"Those people aren't really dying," Katie said as she tried to calm Leanne down. "They're just pretending to, like in a play."

"B-but what about when the old m-man died, he d-d-disappeared!" bawled Leanne, but her reaction when Alderaan was destroyed provoked a far greater reaction. She had refused to watch anymore of the movie so Samuel had kept her company in the kitchen and taught her how to play monopoly, where they were soon joined by Susan Bones who wouldn't admit it but the movie was reminding her of dark things she'd prefer to try and forget. Hermione joined in, leaving just Taryn, Katie and Ernie watching the movie. Leanne knew she had probably made a fool of herself and looked weird, freaking out over something that's not real, but she didn't really mind too much. Samuel understood and didn't make fun of her, and she felt very relaxed when they were playing monopoly. Hermione had won easily, amassing an enormous wealth by using a combination of attrition and tactics to keep her ahead of her opponents, but Leanne had quickly gone bankrupt early in the game, muggle money was just so confusing.

Now almost three hours later, Leanne was once again wondering what she should do. She didn't want to lose the opportunity like she always did, for once in her life she wanted to be strong and brave, to finally have the guts to admit to a boy that she liked him. Steeling her resolve, Leanne quietly approached the sofa on her bare feet, her black dress barely rippling as she moved. Only Samuel's raven watched her walk, sitting on his perch above the modern bookcase in the corner of the large room. Leanne stepped onto the rug and felt the fur between her toes, and imagined herself as a tiger approaching her prey. Samuel seemed to sense her movement as he turned around and grinned.

"Can you help me put Taryn down properly on the sofa? I'm afraid she'll fall and hurt herself," whispered Samuel, coming around and picking up Taryn's sleeping form by her shoulders. Carefully, the two lowered her down onto the sofa, Samuel propping a cushion under her head. "How 'bout you, feeling alright then?"

"Well, I don't drink too much usually… my head feels really heavy, is that normal?" As if to emphasize her answer, Leanne grabbed her head with both hands as if to steady it, making Samuel start giggling, trying to suppress any loud laughter.  
"What is it?"

Samuel grinned again, and this time Leanne could see the mirth in his eyes. "You just look so cute like that, like a human-sized doll." Leanne wasn't sure whether that was a compliment or not, but was saved the trouble of answering when Samuel asked her if she'd like a drink to cool her down. It was kind of hot in here, so she followed him silently into the kitchen and sat at the clean white table.

Samuel would never admit it, but he felt absolutely gone. It was as if a bus had plowed into him and took him for a ride across the country with his face substituting as a windshield. Now, after drinking so much and being in the company of some truly wonderful girls, he was feeling certain urges. Samuel was a boy, and no boy can deny the urges that keep them awake at night. Sure, he had self-control, and had taught himself not to focus his every thought on sex like most people his age did, but the drink was doing something to him. He liked Leanne; thought she was cute as a button and loved seeing her face as she was surprised by yet another muggle invention, but he also like Taryn and Ginny.

Samuel shook his head of such thoughts as he opened the fridge and tried not to blind himself with the fridge light. Shielding his eyes, Samuel repeated the name of each available drink to Leanne. "We've got a tiny bit of Cola left, some apple and mango juice, a full bottle of 7-Up and a pitcher of pumpkin juice." Leanne went with the only thing in there that she liked, and asked for some pumpkin juice. Pouring a glass for her, Samuel set the pitcher onto the table.

"Aren't you going to have some?" Leanne asked, waiting for her pumpkin juice to cool down a bit. Having cold drinks always made her head hurt a bit.

"Well, I don't normally drink pumpkin juice-"

"I'll give you some of mine, a full glass is too much for me right now," Leanne shyly smiled, and poured half of her glass into an empty glass. Each brought their glasses to their mouths simultaneously and gulped the cool drink down, unaware of how it had been tampered with earlier that day. Immediately both felt themselves unable to keep their eyes away from the other, watching each other very carefully.

"That wasn't so bad-" Samuel trailed off, his eyes sweeping across Leanne's body, travelling from the tips of her toes to the peak of her delicate nose. He was suddenly aware of how much he wanted Leanne. He wanted to drop down on one knee and confess his love for her; to hold her in his arms and kiss her soft, sensitive skin. She was just so bewitching in every way, and Samuel struggled to hold in his animal instincts.

Leanne on the other hand was trying very hard to understand what was triggering an entire rainfall of feelings to fall on her, her every thought was now devoted to memorizing Samuel's features in perfect detail. She loved his hair, and felt an impulse to reach out and move her small fingers through the waterfall of brown hair. She moved in closer, and crossed one leg over another, aware of a tingling feeling racing through her body. Samuel clasped the hand running through his hair and brought it to his cheek, feeling its flushed warmth before turning and placing a small kiss on her palm. He brushed his lips against her tender wrist and felt a shiver run through her body, then brought it down in line with his chest and began massaging it with both hands.

Samuel had taken a class back in Bahamutia about the human body and had learnt some fairly basic massage techniques that he now applied in his intoxicated and bewitched state of mind. Neither said a word as Samuel worked on her hand, then moved up past her wrist and took care of her forearm. Leanne let out a gentle moan as he pushed the right buttons, pleasure running up from her arm. She gasped as he then left that arm alone and took the other hand, repeating the same performance.

She felt her toes spread apart and close again as the feelings coursed through her body, lust penetrating her very being with its selfish ways. She wanted to spring at Samuel and wrestle him to the ground. She wanted to grind herself against him and feel his lips against hers.

She moaned again, loudly this time as Samuel's quick fingers agilely pressed down at certain points, shuddering as another shiver ripped through her body. All she knew now was that she absolutely adored Samuel Flinter, and he adored her.

An empty bottle of firewhiskey watched from the den as Samuel lovingly felt her soft skin and he slowly moved up her leg, making such every inch got as much attention as the last. Samuel wanted her so badly; it took every bit of willpower he had not to just take her there and then on the tabletop. He wanted to hear her pleasure-filled moans as she rode him to oblivion, but he knew that he couldn't. Yet.

Reaching the hem of Leanne's dress, Samuel let the tips of his fingers roam underneath, but no further than that. He knew he was driving her crazy, Leanne's eyes opening and closing and her mouth fell slightly open as she longed to feel Samuel touch her some more. She nearly begged him to keep going, but Samuel had already lifted his hands away.

Samuel looked into Leanne's eyes. He watched the color surrounding each iris like a whirlpool of love, the dark love that spoke volumes to his soul. He stood from his chair and walked that final distance, his hand brushing against her thigh as he leaned down, only inches from her face. He moved in, closer and closer, her succulent lips inviting him to come and take it, her first kiss.

Samuel than leant down even further and brushed his lips against her neck, than began leaving kissing leading down to her collarbone. Leanne felt another bolt of electricity run through her at gentle touches; her whole body almost shaking now from desire and pleasure. He reached the bottom of her neck than looked up at her again, both his hands resting on her mid-riff.

In her mind, Leanne was feeling as serene as one could be, as if the truth of the universe was finally going to unveil itself for all of mankind to know. She watched Samuel, felt herself falling over and over in the bounds of his eyes. She wanted his strong body to engulf her forever and ever, to hold her and never let go.

Then they both heard the floorboard creaking in the den. Immediately they bolted apart, unwilling to put on a show for whoever was watching. Love could never be broken, each thought, and knew the time would come. Samuel straightened his back and gazed into the dark, only seeing the sleeping form of Katie while the sofa obscured Taryn completely. Samuel took one more look at Leanne, her tiny body seeming almost doll-like once more as she gazed back up at him, before he carefully stepped into the den. No one was there; Taryn was still sleeping where Samuel and Leanne had left her while Katie snored away happily. Feeling tired, Samuel shrugged his shoulders, Leanne following him as he unrolled some blankets he had kept in the corner of the den.

* * *

Upstairs, Samantha was sitting in her room, her breath come hard and fast. She had almost had a heart attack when she accidently crept over the noisy floorboard in the den, but had silently come up the stairs before Samuel could investigate. She had come so close! Samuel was basically about to kiss Leanne and she had ruined everything! She knew that there was no way Samuel was going to continue now, that potion just wasn't going to be strong enough to elicit a strong enough response for him to kiss her while someone was watching. No, it had been a waste this time; by morning each would have awoken with a ringing hangover and thinking they had dreamed the entire encounter.

"Not to worry," Samantha told herself as she pulled a carton from under her bed, exposing dozens of little pink bottles. "I've got plenty of opportunities."

* * *

Maurice came downstairs sometime after dawn, already dressed for work when he came across the carnage in the den. Empty bottles littered the floor and the sight of both seventh-year students sleeping almost made Maurice laugh. The Irish girl, Taryn, was half-way off the sofa, her head hanging off the side and a light blanket covering her while Katie was sprawled across the floor. A black bra was hanging off the sofa's armrest, and for a moment Maurice wondered if he should wake up the poor girl to save her the embarrassment later.

Calmly shaking her shoulder, Maurice bent down and whispered her name into her ear, tying to get a response. He patiently tried for a few seconds, hoping that she would wake up suddenly, but still she slept. "Oh well, I wonder what's going to happen if Samuel wakes up first," he mused. Walking around the sofa, he found the last girl lying down in her black dress, her head resting against Samuel's leg, he himself sitting up against the back of the sofa, fast asleep. Maurice wished he was that popular with the ladies when he was Samuel's age, but smiled and walked past the sleeping pair into the kitchen. Sitting on the bench was a now-warm pitcher of pumpkin juice, and this really surprised Maurice. He knew that Samuel hated the stuff and so did Maurice, and he wondered who had bought it in the first place; he certainly had not. Suspicious, Maurice brought his nose to the rim of the pitcher and sniffed. This wasn't just pumpkin juice; someone had messed around with it, it actually smelt nice for once. While he was a squib, Maurice had asked his father as he was growing up about various aspects of the Wizarding World, and of course what teenage boy would not ask about love and if there was such a thing as love potions. Picking up the pitcher, he carefully poured it out into the sink. He was going to have a stern word with Samantha when he got home that evening.

"Och, m' bleedin' head!"

It was past noon when Taryn woke up, bleary-eyed and a pounding headache making her wince with every thought. She sat up, unaware of her state of undress and tried to focus on her surroundings. She remembered she had come to Samuel's last night for a party, and they had been drinking. Stacked on the tables and lying on the floor were dozens of bottles, each as dry as the sun. She tried to remember what had happened last night, but all she could think about was an elephant painted with all these hippy designs running amok in someone's backyard.

"What a night." Katie's voice made her gingerly move her head to the right where the brunette was yawning. Opening her eyes, Katie stared at Taryn and tried to see clearly through the daze. "Woah, they're bigger than I thought."

"What are?"

Leanne's head appeared over the top of the sofa, looking just as messed up as the other two. "What's goin' on?" She looked at Katie, looked down at Taryn, and then looked down behind her. "Oh my god…"

Katie was still looking at Taryn thoughtfully, than shrugged and looked around some more. A note was sitting on the coffee table. Crawling forward, she stared uncomprehendingly at the note, trying to figure out what code it was written in, the letters swimming right before her eyes. Holding her head still, she forced herself to read the note aloud.

"'Sorry girls, Samantha spiked the pumpkin juice with love potion, hope none of you drank it.' Samuel's uncle signed it." Katie looked back at Taryn, and began chuckling.

"What is it?"

Leanne edged around the sofa, her dress in disarray and peered at Taryn, finally noticing that she was missing an essential piece of her outfit. Her mouth opened in a silent O, then her eyes rolled up and she fainted. Taryn slipped off the sofa and came over to Leanne on her knees while Katie began to laugh in earnest now.

"'morning everyone, sleep well?" Samuel's head popped from around the other side of the sofa, woken by Katie's laughing. He rubbed his eyes once and looked straight to his right to the other side of the sofa. Taryn's naked back and underwear-clad greeted his eyes, and he began wondering if this was a dream. He let his eyes roam down her back for a moment, enjoying the contours of her pale skin. Finally realizing what was going on, Taryn swore violently in Gaelic and shot from the room. She grabbed her bra as she went while Katie continued to laugh as Samuel stood up, unsure what to do and subsequently revealing that he was only wearing a pair of boxers. By the time Taryn had come back downstairs, having borrowed a t-shirt and skirt from the much shorter Samantha, Leanne had stirred and gotten up again, both hands pressing the ground and holding her up. Katie had vanished while Samuel was trying to make of what appeared to be omelets in the kitchen. Leanne looked up at Taryn, and seeing her exposed midriff made her go weak in the knees. Leanne pathetically mewled, unable to understand what was going on.

"Are you 'right now?" Taryn asked, blushing. It had been the largest t-shirt Samantha had, so she had no choice until she could remember where her own blouse and skirt were.

"I-I-I…"

"Yes?"  
Leanne whispered something, too quiet to hear.

"What's wrong? You'll need to speak up."

"I lost my knickers," Leanne whispered, barely loud enough to hear. She couldn't remember a thing that had happened last night, beyond that she liked the first movie they watched and that Samuel was really nice to her, but now Leanne was worried that perhaps Samuel may have been too nice. Discovering that you slept next to the boy who liked and that her knickers had disappeared during a drunken night together wasn't a good omen. None of the teenagers had the good sense to logically try and figure out why they were all suddenly half-naked. It only occurred to Samuel hours later that since it was hot during the night, it only made sense to their alcohol-clouded minds to cool themselves down. But while Taryn and Samuel found their clothes strewn around the kitchen and bathroom respectively, only one sentient being knew what happened to Leanne's knickers.

Grasping the Hello Kitty knickers in his beak that he had discovered in the downstairs bathroom, Raistlin was busy putting together a new warm nest on top of the grandfather clock in the den, watching as Samuel and Taryn raced around the house while Leanne sat there and sniffed tearfully.

It was almost three hours later after Leanne and Taryn had left did Samuel walk into the backyard and find Katie asleep under a tree. After waking her and questioning her, it turned out she wanted to get some peace and quiet, all the noise earlier was disturbing her sleep. If only he also had the good sense to have and done that.

They were sitting in the rickety plastic lounge chairs by the sliding door, relaxing as the sun slowly came closer to its zenith. Samuel had procured two pairs of sunglasses from inside. Neither of them could really be bothered doing anything, so Samuel brought out some sunscreen and took of his shirt than applied a small amount of sunscreen to his chest, face, arms and legs. Holding out the bottle to Katie, she also spread some on her arms and legs.

"So, what's next for the newest player in Hogwarts?" Katie smirked, and wished she had thought to bring at least a sports bra or bikini along. While she wasn't a shy girl, she thought that perhaps Samuel already had reached his quota for bare skin for the day.

"Player? I didn't do anything to either of the girls," answered Samuel hotly, crossing his arms. "It was just hot during the night; we all probably just wanted to cool down."

"Whatever Lothario, I guess it was pretty hot."

They both sat there in silence, soaking up the rays of the sun. Neither had really much to do; both had packed for Hogwarts already and neither had to rush and do anything, so Samuel told Katie she's welcome to stay for as long as she needs.

"Don't worry; I'll be gone by the late afternoon. Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Your grandfather died barely a month ago and you're already having drunken parties. Other people who have lost friends and family members have been utterly distraught, and that makes sense because it must be absolutely horrible to lose someone, but how do you do that?"

Samuel stared up into the clear sky for a few seconds before answering. "The way I see it, my grandfather would have been so angry at me if I just rolled around in self-pity. Sure, he was close, but life goes on you know? I'm not going to become one of those people who just let the past hold them back, this new life here in England provides me with a chance I was never offered in Australia; the ability to choose my own future."

Samuel felt like he had just said something really corny, and felt a small twinge of embarrassment run across his face, but Katie flipped her sunglasses up and smiled at him, reaching over and placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're a good guy, Samuel Flinter, and I can see how both Taryn and Leanne seem to have a thing for you but there's no way your getting into my knickers too," she joked, then lifted her hand and punched his shoulder hard.

It was only by four in the afternoon did Katie leave after whiling away the hours talking about the movies they had watched the previous night and the sheer amount of alcohol each of them must have drunk judging by the amount of bottles. Bidding her goodbye before she disapparated, Katie gave Samuel a hug and wished him luck for his first day at Hogwarts and that she'd like to have lunch with him sometime during the first week.

Walking back into the house and grabbing a can of coke from the fridge, Samuel walked into the den and began cleaning the mess; picking up the empty bottles of soft drink and alcohol while examining each blanket for any signs of a 'mess'.

Looking around, Samuel saw Raistlin sitting on top of the grandfather clock and reached up with a hand, petting the raven fondly. He felt his hand brush against something soft and made of cotton, but there was always time to check it out later. He wouldn't mention anything to Samantha about the love potion and the pumpkin juice, better for her to think he was unaware and to take her by surprise later on. He was already thinking about various ways he could get back at her as he walked upstairs to his cousin's room.

* * *

Author's Notes:  
This chapter does in no way lock in Leanne as Samuel's primary interest for the rest of the story.


	6. Chapter 6: Wand and Witches

Author's Note:

Yep, finally at Hogwarts.  
Any feedback would be appreciated, any questions too. I'll be answering questions on a youtube video soon that i'll post the link to on my profile page.

* * *

Smoke was billowing behind the Hogwarts Express as it left Platform Nine and Three Quarters, carrying a mere fraction of the amount of students it normally would. Many of the families that would have normally sent their children to Hogwarts were now far too scared to allow their children to stay so far from their homes with the recent threat of the resurgence of the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. The Platform had been scarcely populated when Samuel and Samantha had literally ran from the car and entered the barrier. Jumping onto the train, Samantha had made a beeline for a favorite compartment of hers which was full of giggling girls while Samuel just wandered down the train until he finally had found an empty compartment near the rear. Settling down, Samuel wrapped his heavy cloak around himself and pull the cowl down, blocking the sun's rays completely. He had thought of wearing his new Hogwarts robes, but had settled with just a shirt and jeans, but he loved the dark cloak he had picked up in Diagon Alley for a song.

He had barely gotten comfortable in his comfy corner seat when the compartment door slid open. Samuel feigned sleeping as a trio of voices entered his compartment. A boy's voice was muffled through the heavy cloth, but Samuel could still make out what he was saying. "They're staring at you because you were at the Ministry too. Our little adventure was all over the Daily Prophet, you must've seen it."

It then sounded like another boy was about to answer, but instead a dreamy female voice asked a question. "Do you think he's asleep?"

"Seems that way, ever seen him before?" The first boy asked. "I can barely see his face."

No one said anything, but Samuel knew that someone was leaning down in front of him, gazing at his sleeping face.  
"Yes, I thought Gran would be angry about all the publicity," said another male, obviously unsure about who Samuel was and therefore disregarded him for now, knowing that it was rude to gossip. "But she was really pleased. Says I'm starting to live up to my dad at long last. She bought me a new wand, look!" The first guy answered the second, but Samuel started to feel a bit agitated; the person leaning in front of him, whoever it was, was still looking at him intently.  
Opening his eyes just a tiny bit to peek out, Samuel almost flinched when he realized that a young blonde witch's face was barely an arm's length from his face staring at him unblinkingly. She was beautiful, Samuel could tell, even with his eyes barely open. She had striking features and dirty-blonde hair, but what most intrigued Samuel were her silvery grey eyes. It was like he was staring into orbs of serenity, not a single imperfection marred the surfaces, but there was something behind them; something deep, hidden behind curiosity. She smiled gently, but didn't make a sound; she knew Samuel was awake but didn't say anything. Samuel smiled back and mouthed a quick thank you as she sat down on the seat opposite him, once more leaving his field of vision.

Samuel didn't really feel like listening into their conversation, but his interest was peaked once more after the compartment had opened and the first boy had brushed aside the obvious romantic advances of some young girl who seemed to thoroughly imply the other male and the pretty girl were detrimental to the first guy's popularity. Samuel loved listening to high school gossip like this; he would make sure to file it away for future reference in case an opportunity to use it was found.

It wasn't like he was going to cash in on this kind of stuff; wasn't really that interesting to the casual student anyways, but you never knew. Maybe if one of the people sharing his compartment was in some way highly-regarded, then it would be a nice piece of gossip.

"People expect you to have cooler friends than us," said the girl in the compartment, sounding rather detached, even from her own statement. She had a strange way of speaking.

"You are cool," answered the first boy. "None of them was at the Ministry. They didn't fight with me."

"That's a very nice thing to say," replied the girl happily.

"We didn't face him, though, you did. You should hear my gran talk about you. 'That Harry Potter's got more backbone than the whole Ministry of Magic put together!' She'd give anything to have you as a grand-son," added the second boy, before the whole thing degraded into a discussion of marks and exam results.

Harry Potter! Harry Potter was sitting right next to Samuel, talking with two of his friends about the events that had taken place in the Ministry of Magic. Samuel was rather happy to see that Taryn's stern arguing with Hermione Granger back in Diagon Alley had been fruitful; it seemed that the 'Boy That Lived' was done sulking. Samuel kept his ears open now and listened intently, taking the time to try and understand all the muffled speech barely penetrating his cowl. Sitting here and choosing this compartment made it seem like luck truly was on his side now; it wasn't often people got this kind of opportunity to eavesdrop like this.

But Harry Potter didn't really say much else for several minutes, the other boy, who Harry called Neville, just kept chattering on about all these trivial things that had happened over the summer. The girl, named Luna, mentioned something called a Wrackspurt, while the two boys went silent for a moment before moving onto Quidditch. Closing his eyes once more, Samuel let his thoughts drift. He hadn't seen Taryn or anyone else he knew yet; he had literally rushed through the train until reaching the rear and finding the empty compartment, but now he was wondering whether it was worth standing and leaving to go finding out where she was. The way Katie Bell had said it, Taryn was quite popular amongst the students at Hogwarts so it was doubtful there would be a free spot in their compartment. He could imagine it now; Taryn, Katie, Leanne, all three of them surrounded by giggling girlfriends and charming admirers trying to steal their attention. There was no way Samuel could content with that; he hated being in groups like that. It wasn't that he was a womanizer, but Samuel had always found it easier to get along with girls rather than boys, and being in groups where there were multiple boys always made him feel kind of shy. No, he decided he's just stay here and get some rest; there was plenty of time to see Taryn and the others at Hogwarts.

Samuel then wondered where his cousin had gotten off to; maybe she was hanging out with Ginny Weasley. Samuel wouldn't have minded joining them, but then it would have been so obvious to everyone that he liked Ginny.

The compartment door opened again, making Samuel wonder what the hell was wrong with people in this school and their inability to just sit the hell down and relax on a trip, but a familiar voice broke the talk of Quidditch. "Wish the lunch trolley would hurry up, I'm starving," announced Ron Weasley as he sat down in the compartment. Another person sat down too, Samuel figuring it to be Hermione Granger, and sure enough the newly-arrived duo greeted Harry, Luna and Neville in turn. They began to talk about some student called Malfoy in a way that made Samuel figure him for a ponce, before once more the door opened. By this point Samuel had enough and just looked up, staring right at a younger girl who was nervously holding three scrolls of parchment.  
"I'm supposed to deliver these to Neville Longbottom, Samuel Flinter and Harry P-Potter," she faltered, Samuel noticing her stutter as she looked at Harry, who Samuel could see now to be a dark-haired wizard with a pair of beaten-up glasses and skin perhaps a shade too pale. The young witch was holding out three scrolls of parchment tied with violet ribbon, waiting for the three mentioned to take them. Each was personally addressed with an elegant hand. Samuel was the first to rise and stood, giving the girl a right scare; the dark cloak and cowl making him seem positively wraith-like. He took the three invitations and the girl stumbled out as he turned and handed a scroll to the other two boys. Hermione seemed amused as she introduced Samuel to Harry, Neville and Luna, the former two not really having much interest in who he was at that point of time, but Luna smiled again and offered a hand, which Samuel shook gently.

"What is it?" Ron demanded to know.

"An invitation," said Harry, reading his invitation. Samuel unrolled his own one and read quickly.

_Samuel,_

_It would be absolutely marvelous if you could join me for a spot of lunch in Compartment C. I'm looking forward to meeting you finally._

_Sincerely, Horace_

"Who the hell is Horace and why does he want to have lunch with us?" Samuel was irritated that once more his peaceful rest would be interrupted. "But what does he want me for?" asked Neville nervously, looking down at the parchment as if it would spell his doom.

"No idea," said Harry unconvincingly. He seemed to know something about what was going on, but Samuel didn't push for the truth. Standing, Samuel quickly left the compartment and made his way to the front of the train, ducking through clumps of students and waving to the rare familiar face. Ernie Macmillan shook Samuel's hand with genuine enthusiasm, greeting him with a "I must say, I must introduce you to some of my friends, I've told them all about you!"

"Sorry Ernie, I've got this invitation to some lunch, maybe later," Samuel apologized, feigning an apologetic smile. The stout Hufflepuff nodded and shook his hand once more before letting him by. Several other witches and wizards stopped him on his way to the front, some of them having met him at Diagon Alley while others had either heard of him or simply wanted to introduce themselves to the new kid. One boy with a camera had especially annoyed him by flashing him in the face and taking a photo of his surprised look. Another girl who seemed to have covered her face in large amounts of makeup looked downcast as he passed by, while her gorgeous friend followed him with her eyes, smiling slightly. She appeared to be of Asian descent, with long black hair and glinting eyes, but she all but ran into her compartment just as he passed her. Turning, he saw Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom making their way up the carriage.

Reaching the compartment first, Samuel did not at first open the door. Now that he had gotten this far he was unsure whether he really wanted to actually enter, but Harry and Neville had reached him, so he let them through first.

A loud voice greeted the two boys as a small rumble shook the floor; evidently their host was quite happy with their acceptance of his invitation. Telling the two boys to have a seat, Samuel decided it might not be so bad after all. Gripping the door knob, he twisted it open to reveal a cramped compartment with a giant walrus sitting at the end of it. It took a few seconds for Samuel to realize that it was actually a man, but perhaps it was the greeting he received that dispelled it.

"Come on, come in, everyone, this is Mr. Flinter. Please, have a seat. Oh, I believe we are filled up, aren't we? I'll just take care of that." Horace, whom God had decided to shape in the form of the Beatles' famous song 'I am the Walrus', pulled out his wand and gave it a little flick. Immediately the compartment lengthened and an extra two seats popped up on either side of his end. The five students sitting down each budged up a seat, each trying to sit as far away from the walrus as they could. It was then Samuel realized Ginny Weasley was sitting at the end of the compartment opposite the walrus, looking very confused at how she had ever gotten into this situation. Seeing that he either had to sit beside the walrus or Ginny, he wisely chose to sit next to the cute redhead, offering her a friendly smile before the walrus stood up.

The walrus introduced the other occupants of the compartment quickly for Samuel. There was Blaise Zabini; a dark-skinned boy who was probably a head taller then Samuel. Zabini offered no welcome to Samuel; indeed he just ignored him. Opposite him, the walrus introduced Harry Potter, which startled the velvet-covered host when he realized they had just met only a few moments ago. Neville Longbottom followed who was appeared to be very nervous and was now sweating profusely. The walrus wiped his gleaming cranium with a silk handkerchief before continuing. The remaining two boys, Marcus Belby and Cormac McLaggen held no interest to Samuel, polite enough as they were this was all giving Samuel a major headache.

"And this wonderful young lady claims to have met you already! You're definitely a networker, aren't you Mr. Flinter! Everyone, this is Samuel Flinter, newly arrived from Australia and the grandson of Marcus Flinter. You probably have all heard of the recent passing away of his grandfather, who owned many lucrative businesses in both the muggle and wizarding worlds."

Blaise Zabini and Cormac McLaggen both looked at Samuel with interest while Neville seemed to grow even more nervous, if that was possible. Samuel narrowed his eyes as he realized what was going on. "Well now, this is most pleasant," the walrus announced, settling into his seat once more. "A chance to get to know you all a little better. Here, take a napkin. I've packed my own lunch; the trolley, as I remember it, is heavy on

Licorice Wands and a poor old man's digestive system isn't quite up to such things... Pheasant, Belby?" The thin and wiry Belby nodded nervously and accepted what appeared to half a cold pheasant. "I was just telling…"

"Excuse me," interrupted Samuel. "I'm sorry sir, but there's still one person here who hasn't been introduced."

The walrus blinked stupidly, and twirled one of his thick mustachios with his fat fingers. "My boy, I'm stumped, who on earth have I forgotten?"

"Well, I have no idea who you are." Samuel knew it sounded rude, but he didn't care too much at this point; he loathed what was going on here. Harry Potter was as famous as one could be, while Neville's parents used to be famous Aurors, their reputation going as far as to make them known even on the other side of the world. Damocles Belby was a skilled potion master who had discovered the Wolfsbane Potion, something that Samuel had studied back in Bahamutia, and was no doubt related to the skinny chap munching on a pheasant. He didn't know how Zabini or Ginny were connected to someone influential, but it was too much of a coincidence.

"I'm terribly sorry dear boy," cried the walrus, jumping up and bowing as far as his fat midsection would allow him. "I am Professor Horace Slughorn, the new Potions Master at Hogwarts. No doubt your grandfather told you about me, we used to be in regular contact we were! I was only a year above him when we went to Hogwarts together, oh so many years ago!"

Samuel nodded and shook Slughorn's hand. He had never heard of this eggman and wasn't particularly interested in what he had to say, but he feigned interest and pretended to have heard of Slughorn, who beamed happily then went on to ask each of the students several questions about their relations. It turned out Samuel was right, each of the students had a famous relative after all; he questioned Belby about his uncle Damocles, then grew disinterested in the boy as he turned out to be in no contact with his uncle. McLaggen's uncle was well-known in the Ministry, and seemed to know several friends of Slughorn's. Zabini's mother was a famous beauty, while Neville was all-but-interrogated about his parents. Then the interview moved onto Harry, who must have looked like a true gemstone in a pile of silver to Slughorn. Samuel fought back a yawn as Slughorn praised the young man and talked about extraordinary powers he must have, Samuel didn't really give a damn at all. He was the only one from his school to have come up here and to have met Harry Potter, and he refused to listen to a single word of praise anyone piled on the boy, Samuel would make his own judgment.

Zabini let out a tiny cough that sounded to Samuel as if he clearly thought Harry Potter was just a prat. Immediately Ginny startled the whole compartment. "Yeah Zabini, because you're so talented… at posing..."

"Oh dear!" chuckled the fat walrus, looking around at Ginny, his eyes twinkling. "You want to be careful, Blaise! I saw this young lady perform the most marvelous Bat-Bogey Hex as I was passing her carriage! I wouldn't cross her!" Zabini however just crossed his arms and glared at the young witch.  
Slughorn continued questioning Harry Potter, and Samuel was interested to know that apparently both Ginny and Neville had been at the battle at the Ministry just a few months earlier when the return of the Dark Lord had been made public to the world. Samuel glanced at Ginny who was sitting next to him and saw her in a new light, but the rest of the afternoon seemed to drag on as Slughorn began prattling on about different witches and wizards he had known and who had been part of his Slug Club, only to rise to positions of prominence in the wizarding world. Slughorn tried to pester him with questions, but Samuel didn't care too much for his specific line of questions so just feigned ignorance and felt the weight of Slughorn's icy displeasure bare down on him.

At last, Samuel couldn't take any more and pretended to leave for some fresh air, but he had no intention of returning, and indeed Slughorn barely grunted a goodbye.

Leaving the compartment, Samuel sighed and turned right; to stare right at Leanne's face, barely two feet apart. Samuel was relieved and gladly gave her a little wave, to which she responded cutely with her own. She seemed a bit nervous, which Samuel completely understood. At one point both of them had woken up believing to have slept with one another after a drunken party at Samuel's uncle's townhouse, and only later on had the truth been made available after Samuel's head had shrunk enough.

"Hey," said Samuel. "How have you been?"

"Ummmm okay I guess."

Samuel shuffled uncomfortably. "It's a long ride, huh?" To which Leanne just nodded, her eyes darting from the floor to his face.

The two just stood there, staring at each other. Samuel didn't really know what to say, his mouth just dried up completely. Leanne similarly was having problems; her usually almost expressionless face now tinged pink from embarrassment.

"You two just were goin' t' stand there?"

An amused Irish lilt coming from a nearby compartment made Samuel spin; sure enough Taryn O'Laighin was poking her head through an open door, an affectionate grin crossing her face. She stared at each of her friends in turn then burst into a peal of laughter. "He did nothin', Leanne. You just slept together is all."

Laughter erupted from inside the compartment, and Samuel able to indentify Katie Bell's hearty laughter far louder then the rest. Samuel couldn't help it; he grinned and began chuckling himself. The sheer absurdity of the whole matter was getting to him, but Leanne's face brightened up and she also let out a chuckle. It was nothing more than keeping each other warm at night they reckoned, a pair of drunks having no clue what they were doing. Neither one could remember how they almost kissed, nor could they remember that they both thought someone had been watching them.

Entering the compartment after Leanne, Samuel was happy to see that Taryn's compartment wasn't full of giggling gossipers and try-hard boys as he thought. Sitting down, he was introduced to the two other occupants beside Taryn, Leanne and Katie. Rebecca Clearwater was a third-year girl and the younger sister of Penelope Clearwater, who had been a friend of Taryn's. Since Penelope had graduated, she had asked Taryn if she could watch over her sister now and then and be there for her at Hogwarts when she herself couldn't be. Far too thin with pale skin and curly brown hair, Rebecca Clearwater looked very ill as she sat there, a weak smile and watery eyes distracting Samuel as he extended his hand. She didn't look well at all, but as Samuel found out later it was all because of a delicate constitution coupled with the emotional loss of her first break-up.

Sitting opposite Rebecca and next to Leanne was a small girl with brushed straight black hair and a pair of glasses, almost religiously reading the novel she had brought with her. It had taken a moment for Katie to grab her attention and get her to stop reading, and she seemed surprised to suddenly realize the new arrival into their compartment. Jumping up hastily, Tasia Abramovich introduced herself, apologizing for not paying attention. A fifth-year student in Ravenclaw, Tasia listened intently as Rebecca asked him questions about Australia, taking off her glasses now and then to wipe the glass with a small red piece of cloth. Taryn, Leanne and Katie had all already had their turns at asking Samuel about his life, so they barely tuned in.

"… and no, we do not ride kangaroos to school and work, that's a complete falsehood perpetrated by people who have very small brains," Samuel explained, emphasizing his point by holding out his index finger and thumb barely an inch from each other. "Nor do we all live in the bush, we actually have real cities and towns that most people live in, we're not all like Crocodile Dundee.  
Now, those rumors you've heard about our ex-Prime Minister were true, Bob Hawke truly did set a world record for beer-drinking. He went and sculled one-point-seven liters of beer without pause, how many politicians can do that?"

"What are the beaches like?" Tasia asked, her soft voice somehow breaking through Katie's laughter, a feat normally not thought possible. Samuel reckoned she looked far to pale to be one for sun tanning, but nevertheless he answered her.

"Well, we've got the most beaches in the world actually, about seven-thousand or so. I haven't been to them all obviously, but I'd have to say my favorites are on the Gold Coast, which is on the coast of Queensland. Golden sand and a hot, shining sun, inhabitants and tourists alike cover the beaches. Now, Bondi Beach down in-"

"We're nearly there," announced Leanne, gazing through the window. "We need to change."

The girls all looked at Samuel pointedly, who grinned wickedly before being roughly tossed out of the compartment, and the blinds closed shut. Picking himself off the floor, Samuel walked back to his own compartment and got ready.

It was only ten minutes later when the Hogwarts Express pulled into a small village's station, smoke billowing over the platform and enveloping a giant of a man standing there, bushy beard and hair obscuring his features while a glass lantern illuminated the growing darkness. Jumping off the train, Samuel followed the mass of students towards a beaten path where several carriages lay in wait. In groups of four the students would pick a carriage and jump on, but a hand grabbed Samuel's and pulled him towards the nearest carriage. Turning quickly, he realized Taryn was dragging him along, followed by Leanne and Rebecca, who was now looking quite ill indeed.

Settling into the cozy warm carriage, Samuel felt nervous. The time had finally arrived and he had come to Hogwarts at last, and tonight he would find out which School House he would be put in. Taryn took his hand gently and patted it with the other, a winsome smile making her seem all-the-more beautiful. "Calma síos, you'll be fine."

Katie joined in too, and reached across and slapped Samuel on the shoulder, making him flinch in pain for a moment. "You'll get the final word in where you go anyway, so what's the problem? You know where you want to go, right?"

Once more Samuel remembered a question he had not yet asked Taryn, but if he were to just ask her personally now, it'd make his feelings all the more obvious to everyone in the carriage. Not that he himself really knew how he felt anymore. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, let alone himself, but he couldn't understand his own feelings too well. While he definately thought of Katie and Hermione as a friends and not in a more serious sort of way, he wasn't sure about Taryn, Leanne or Ginny. "What Houses are you three in?"

"Ravenclaw," replied Rebecca, having been sorted into her sister's House.

"Gryffindor," anwered Katie, as Samuel already knew.

"Ravenclaw," smiled Taryn, and Samuel's heart did a little flip. "Leanne is in Hufflepuff along with Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones, Tasia told you she was in Ravenclaw too while Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley are in Gryffindor, along with Harry Potter."

"Do you know a girl named Luna?"

"Sure," Taryn said with an amused glint in her eye. "Luna's in Ravenclaw, shares a dorm with Tasia. She's a bit strange sometimes, but Luna's a good girl and m' mother always said t' give everyone a chance, glad I did. She's a right bit famous now, isn't she? Havin' fought against those damn Death Eaters a few months ago with Harry Potter and his little gang."

"People aren't nice to her?"  
"Nope, some people are down-right mean," announced Rebecca, pulling her hair into a ponytail and taking a blue elastic hair band from her wrist and using it to tie her hair. "They make fun of her all the time and call her names; it's not very nice at all."

Taryn nodded in agreement. "They sometimes steal her stuff and hide it away until the last day of the school year."

Samuel thought back to the dreamy-eyed blonde girl who shared his compartment. He disliked bullying in all of its forms, and it was totally unacceptable for this sort of treatment to continue. "Why doesn't she do anything to stop it?"

Taryn and Rebecca looked at each other while Katie snorted. "Luna's a bit of an air-head," explained Katie. "She doesn't seem to realize what bullying actually is, let alone that it's what's happening to her at school. She doesn't know what the majority of the school calls her and having her stuff stolen is like a yearly ritual now that she's completely used to."

"Loony Lovegood," explained Taryn gloomily, seeing Samuel's confused expression. "Guess what some of the older students call her." Taryn didn't elaborate further; she didn't need to, the kind of language that would ensue wasn't appropriate for Rebecca.

Raising her wand, Katie traced a pattern in the air with red and gold sparks, idly drawing shapes in the air while Rebecca watched on. Taryn collected herself once more and took out a small handheld mirror and looked at her blonde hair, then conjured a brush and began brushing so that her hair lay straight without a single knot. A shiny badge was pinned to the front of her robes, which Samuel read out to say 'Head Girl'.

Looking out the window, Samuel gasped with amazement as he spied Hogwarts Castle in its entirety; its rising towers and fortified walls making it seem like a mighty fortress of old. The grounds were well kept and mown regularly it seemed while he could just spy a small shack on the far side of the grounds before it was swallowed up by darkness. The carriage came to a halt in front of a pair of massive wooden doors, where the four got out and made their way through to the Entrance Hall, Taryn disappearing for a short while so that Samuel just followed everyone else. Katie had reunited herself with her Quidditch teammates while Rebecca wandered over to a group of third-years. Looking around, he joined up with Tasia and Luna who were walking along together, each telling one another about different stories they had read over the summer. Luna looked at him interestedly while Tasia just stared at him for a moment through her wide-rimmed glasses, her pale blue eyes analyzing him before she nodded once before Luna continued. "So my daddy promised me I'll be the first to see his new Crumple-Horned Snorkack Detector at work! It's all so exciting; I could hardly think about anything else, I began to think perhaps a Wrackspurt was wandering about my head. Daddy said it's most probably the heat and excitement, but I know they're there."

"That reminds me of those Cove Crawlers from the Nightenberry Chronicles. They hide up in the stalactites and drop down on the party when the torch-bearer went by. No one but the warlock could do anything because it clouded their minds, but he used a dismissal spell and they vanished," Tasia thought aloud, holding her novel open with just a finger in order to not lose her place.  
"I've actually read that book," Samuel joined in. "That's from the third book isn't it? I love the fifth the most though, especially the way that Elven ranger took down that Dread Lord with his spear. I loved how gritty the whole story is, it's brilliant."

"I don't think I've read those, is it a muggle series?" Luna asked, watching the people around them slowly stroll into the Entrance Hall. "Could I maybe borrow one Tasia?"

Walking into the Entrance Hall, Samuel was spellbound. It looked like the inside of a giant cathedral with its long and tall dimensions and medieval architecture. But it was the ceiling that really caught his eyes and held them transfixed. Someone had charmed the ceiling to reveal the sky above, so in this case Samuel was staring straight up into the starry sky. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen similar charms before, but the sheer beauty of the view just amazed it. Quickly shaking himself out of it, Samuel scanned to see where Luna and Tasia had gone, finding them sitting along one of the four great long tables. Each of the four tables was at least halfway full of chattering students, but Samuel imagined that they were usually probably full. At the end of the hall, on a raised dais sat the teachers and the headmaster, each of them looking slightly nervous and worried at the lack of students at the school, except Professor Dumbledore. Dumbledore, oddly enough, was wearing an extremely vibrant blue robe adorned with little silver stars, his beard almost long enough to wrap around his waist as a belt. The large man Samuel had spied standing on the platform earlier on was sitting at the table dwarfing all those near him, especially the tiny wizard who was currently engaged in conversation with him.

Sitting down, Samuel found himself between Tasia and a black-haired boy who he had not met before. Offering his hand, Samuel introduced himself to Michael Corner, who was in the same year level as him. They talked a little bit about Hogwarts, and Samuel learnt how a power-hungry Ministry official had taken over the school temporarily last year before being overthrown by Harry Potter and his friends.  
"What hasn't he done? Is he actually some kind of genius?"

Michael snorted. "No, he's a knob that's what he is. Everyone thinks he's so great but its just luck, he takes credit for everything. If he's the Chosen One then how come You-Know-Who hasn't been defeated yet?"

Samuel found that rather interesting, it seemed that the school, probably just like the wizarding world, was split on opinion when it came to Harry Potter. Some people believed he would save them while others believed he was a phony. His own opinion hadn't really given him an insight either way; he'd just have to wait to see. He watched in boredom as a list of first-year students were called out one at a time and told to sit in a chair and put on a ragged old wizard's hat, which would then shout out what house they were to be put in. He only half-listened as Michael ragged on about Dumbledore and Harry Potter while the nervous looking kids slowly trickled to join the other students.

Samuel could not simply understand how one guy could form such a shitty opinion of most of the student body. Making a mental note to avoid him for now on, Samuel concentrated on Dumbledore as he hushed the entire hall and began to speak.

"Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have several things to speak to you all about, some grave news and some news of a more joyous nature before you can enjoy this year's excellent start-of-year feast.  
As you are all aware, the Dark Lord Voldemort is currently at war with all that is good in this world, but here, in this most ancient and powerful castle, you are well-guarded. No ill will come to you as long as you believe in yourselves and those around you; students, professors and caretaker alike will do everything possible to keep you safe. The Ministry has sent us Aurors to protect the entranceways of Hogwarts and to patrol the corridors at night, so please mind them and let them do their jobs.  
This year we have a brand-new Head Boy and Head Girl who will do all they can to represent the student body. May I present Eddie Carmichael as the Head Boy and Taryn Scáthach O'Laighin as the Head Girl. I wish both best of luck and know they will complete their duties to the highest possible standard. I do realize that this year both Head Boy and Head Girl are from Ravenclaw House, but it is not the first time both positions are taken by students from the same house, so please, do not quarrel between yourselves thinking that I favor Ravenclaw above the rest. Both Mr. Carmichael and Miss O'Laighin deserved the honor and proved they are worthy.  
I would like to thank Professor Snape, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. His old post, that of Potions Master, is being filled by an old acquaintance and former teacher at Hogwarts, Professor Slughorn, who has returned to Hogwarts in its time of need.  
Lastly, I'd like to stress the point that no student should be out of the castle after nightfall, nor should any student enter the Forbidden Forest. That concludes this dreary speech of mine, let the feast begin!"

Dumbledore clapped as the tables filled with every foodstuff Samuel could imagine. Roast boar appeared right in front of him, its succulent flesh still steaming, as if had just left the oven. Mouth-watering bowls of heavily buttered mashed potatoes and perfectly smoked platters of cold meats were just in arm's reach. All around him, students dug in and piled food onto their plates, but Samuel had one last thing to do. Standing up, he was aware of the many eyes locked onto him as he headed towards the staff's table, where Dumbledore watched him approach through half-moon spectacles. Reaching the table, he looked each teacher in the eye and bowed once, hoping that he could make this as polite as possible. His image to the professors was foremost on his mind; he wished to leave as good as an impression as possible.

"Professors and Headmaster, I am Samuel Flinter, a new student to this school. I wish to know what School House I will belong to," Samuel asked, staring straight at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore watched him for a moment, aware that the sounds of people eating had more or less died out at the moment. "Where were you sitting?"

"At the Ravenclaw table."

"Then you have made your decision, welcome to Hogwarts." The professors clapped enthusiastically, all except the dark, lanky Professor Snape who just glared at Samuel coldly.

Walking back to his seat, he grinned at all the other Ravenclaws, who were all clapping with glee. He high-fived all the students as he came down to his seat, then sat and leaned back, enjoying his new status as an official student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

It was some time later when the deserts finally vanished. Not a single student sported an unhappy face; each were completely satisfied and overly stuffed. More than one student sitting near Samuel was finding it almost too hard to breathe, even he himself felt as if he had just stuffed a baby elephant inside his stomach. He had spent most of the dinner scanning the dinner table for Taryn, but the Head Girl was no where to be seen. Tasia had no idea where she was, and after Samuel questioned Luna he got the same answer, although he was offered some Newtberry Waffle, which he declined.

Dumbledore stood up and claimed it was time for the students to go to their dorms, and immediately the large double doors to the Entrance Hall swung wide open. Taryn and a seedy-looking tall guy who Samuel assumed was Eddie Carmichael stood on either side of the doors, each trying to look as welcoming as possible. Without any real rush, all the students picked themselves up and drifted towards the doors. Walking slowly, hoping to be the last out in order to talk with the waiting Head Girl, Samuel shook a few hands and high-fived several Ravenclaws before they finally all trickled out.

"I'll catch up t' you Eddie," Taryn waved a hand to Eddie as she turned to Samuel, green eyes flashing with happiness. "Sorry, I wanted it t' b' a surprise. I hope you met a few more friends?"

Samuel shrugged, and fell in line with Taryn as she set a pace. "Met a bastard named Michael Corner, you know him?"

"He's a buggerin' arse, he is. Don't get mixed up with him, little shit makes himself out t' b' a player, always buggin' the girls. We need t' take a right over here, the stairs go up t' the tower."

A ghost like none Samuel had ever seen drifted behind them, following them as they made their way up to a tower. It was of a tall, young lady, dressed in a long dress. She was absolutely divine, her face chiseled into a classical beauty, as if a master sculptor had made her from the finest ivory.

"The Grey Lady," explained Taryn. "The House Ghost for Ravenclaw, maybe you should say hello." Taryn stopped walking, and similarly the ghost stopped, looking over the railing as Samuel stepped down to the right of her.

"Uh, I'm Samuel Flinter. I'm new in Hogwarts. I've been told that you are the one I am to pay my respects to. I hope you don't mind me saying, but I've never seen such a lovely ghost before."

The Grey Lady turned to face him, clutching a spectral book to her chest. Her eyes seemed sad, almost as if she was to cry, but the ghost composed herself quickly. "Thou speakth with the tongue of the gentlefolk, please make thine own home in the tower." With that, the Grey Lady turned to the right and floated straight through the stone wall, leaving Samuel puzzled.

"Wow, she actually spoke, she must approve of you," congratulated Taryn.

Continuing their walk, they came to a narrow passageway where the stairs barely were wide enough for a single person to fit through, but eventually they made their way to the top of the tower, where a single door with a bronze door knocker in the shape of an eagle awaited them. A voice was emitted from the eagle, leaving Samuel momentarily taken aback.

_They have not flesh, nor feathers, nor scales, nor bone. Yet they have fingers and thumbs of their own. What are they?_

"A nice easy one t' start the year off. Gloves," answered Taryn confidently, obviously well used to the riddles the door knocker issues. "They usually bump up the difficulty by the end of the year."

Opening the door, Samuel was amazed by the huge, domed ceiling, echoing the Entrance Hall in its appearance; realistic stars had been painted on the ceiling which seemed to almost be reflected on the midnight-blue carpeting. All manners of desks, tables, chairs and bookcases covered every inch of the giant common room, while from the large arched windows Samuel could see smoke billowing from the chimneys from the nearby village. The common room was sparsely populated, only the older students staying up after the feast. A small group, including Michael Corner, had gathered near one of the windows and were talking quietly, Samuel catching them watching him as he strolled past several tables, examining the hundreds of books that lined the bookshelves. Taryn summoned the prefects to her while Samuel settled down on a beaten-up midnight-blue sofa, having picked up a book he found interesting enough.

"_Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica _by Isaac Newton. Who would have thought the common room, let alone the actual library would have one of these," he thought aloud, having always wondered where he could find a copy of this book.

"Sometimes students leave books here when they graduate. I found a wonderful book about Vitaeltros' hiding places."  
Sure enough, Luna Lovegood had glided over to the sofa; ignoring the funny stares that Michael Corner's group was giving her. She was the trippiest spectacles Samuel had ever seen, ones that a hippy at Woodstock would have been proud to wear while her wand was stuck behind her ear. She sat herself down carefully on the sofa and began to read her book of Vitaeltros'. In no time at all she was sitting up as stiff as a plank of wood, her eyes racing across the paper as she got sucked into the story. Opposite them, lying on a bronze-colored rug, Tasia was lying on the floor reading her own book and playing chess against a fourth-year sandy-haired boy at the same time, yet she still seemed to be winning.

"Samuel, you've got a bit of a choice t' make," said Taryn, having finished her little meeting and come behind the sofa, leaning over Samuel's shoulder. "You can either have a single dorm room t' yourself or share, and considerin' the only choice is either by yourself or livin' with Michael Corner…"

"Solo it is."

Taryn stayed with Samuel for a little while before announcing she was tired, and it wasn't too long before Samuel decided he would follow suit. Standing up, he bid Luna a goodnight and left the book back on the shelf where he had found it. Walking to the stairs, he gazed upon the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the co-founders of Hogwarts.

"She was kind and wise, her mind knew no boundaries."  
The Grey Lady had floated up behind Samuel, joining him in looking on at the great statue. "I wished ever so badly to have even a fragment of that which she had. Truly she was the cleverest. Upon her head lay the Diadem of Ravenclaw, upon her shoulder hung the Mantle of Wisdom while the Ring of Burden wore her down softly and surely, cursing her to know all that is and how it came to be."

"A Diadem, Mantle and Ring?"

The Grey Lady nodded at Samuel's question. "The three greatest of treasures, hidden from us through time and space. The Diadem lies eternal with her, the Mantle hidden from sight and sound while the Ring is worn by the brave and true."

"What does that mean? What do those things actually do?"  
But the Grey Lady didn't answer this time, but simply faded out of sight, leaving Samuel wondering about the riddle he was left with. Examining the statue more closely, he did indeed spot a ring carved to fit Rowena's left index finger.  
"Don't worry about her; she's a bit mysterious sometimes." Rebecca Clearwater was standing on the staircase, about ten steps up. "Sometimes she talks to us, tells us about ancient prophecies or treasures, but most of the time she likes to keep to herself."

"Do you know what she was talking about? Some kind of diadem, ring and mantle?"

Rebecca paused in thought. "I'm not sure what a diadem is, but the Ring of Burden is supposed to be the ultimate source of knowledge or something. Taryn might know a bit more, she's studied Ravenclaw's roots with Flitwick. There's a small group of Ravenclaws that meet up once a week, ask Taryn about them. M-my ex-boy…" Rebecca sniffed and brought a handkerchief to her eyes, Samuel could see that she had been crying.

"Thanks Rebecca, have a good night. If you need someone to talk to… well, I'll be around."

"Thank you, but I'll be fine. Goodnight." The small waif of a girl sniffed again and turned, climbing the stairs ahead of Samuel.  
Making his way up the stairs, Samuel paused in front of room 6D. The door was made of high-quality ash timber while the door handle seemed to be made of gold. Twisting it, Samuel opened the door to find a small, comfortable room of stone and timber. The walls were polished stone tablets, each inscribed with various carvings and stories while the single timber pillar that supported the ceiling had the words 'Wit', 'Intelligence', 'Wisdom' and 'Cleverness' written in large letters down each face. His bed was a comfortable oaken queen-sized double bed with a rich variety of pillows in various shades of blue and bronze while a desk and wardrobe sat to the other side of the room. Directly in front of Samuel, opposite the door was the most amazing view from his window. Coming to the window, he looked out to see the entirety of the Forbidden Forest laid out for him to see.  
A familiar hoarse croak startled Samuel, and he spotted Raistlin perched atop the door, sitting on a perch probably built for owls. Samuel clicked his tongue and immediately Raistlin spread his wings and glided across the room to land on his shoulder, his heavy mass only slightly registering to Samuel. Walking over to the bed where his bags were waiting for him, Samuel unzipped a pocket in his backpack and pulled out a few tasty snacks he had bought for Raistlin.

Sitting on the bed, only now did he realize that his wand was glowing from inside his pocket. Pulling it out, he examined it carefully. It was indeed glowing, but not significantly so, a dull orange glow was emanating from the blackthorn wood. It had never done anything like this before since he had gotten it a few weeks ago as part of his inheritance. The wand felt warm in his fingers, as it usually did, but even as he held it he could feel it getting warmer and warmer, as if the wood was alive and had some sort of fever.

It was getting hotter and hotter; the glow was getter brighter and brighter. The heat must have been blistering, but Samuel felt no pain. Indeed, the wand made him feel like he can a roaring fire held in his hands, but it barely even made him sweat at all. What was triggering this to happen? Was the wand faulty, damaged in some regard, or was it trying to tell him something?

Standing up, Samuel decided to try something. His grandfather had sent him his handwritten notes on how to summon a flaming arrow and shoot it out of his wand. It was a very impressive trick that he took joy in mastering, regularly practicing his aim. Walking over to the window, he unlatched it and pushed it open far enough to stick his wand through and aimed it at the sky. "_Igneaus saghittah_!" he called out, thrusting the wand slightly. Immediately a swarm of flaming arrows soared from the tip of his wand and flew harmlessly into the air, travelling several hundred feet before exploding.  
"That's strange, why the fuck did that many come out?" wondered Samuel, trying the spell again only to have the same result. He discovered that depending how he held his wand, depending on how far up or down his hand was the arrows would either spread further apart or follow a single leading arrow.  
He then turned back to the room and looked at a small tinderbox sitting on the dresser. Concentrating on it, Samuel swiped the flaming-hot wand across the air in a quick flourish, leaving a fiery trail even as the tinderbox began to change shape as he transmogrified it. But instead of a mouse, it swelled to ten times the size in the shape of a rat, which glared at Samuel with its gleaming red eyes, black tail swishing side to side. The rat was sitting on its haunches, eyes darting between Samuel and Raistlin, who was now croaking loudly. Flicking his wand at the rat, Samuel sighed in relief as it shrank down into a tinderbox again, albeit a more fancy incarnation, but now his wand was cooling down again, the glow fading and the temperature returning to that of his own body temperature.

Marveling at what had just happened; Samuel lay back in bed and relaxed, kicking his shoes off and rested his head upon a comfy pillow. Somehow his wand had amplified each spell he had cast, but he had no idea how it did so. He had no idea if it would ever happen again, but he sure would get a kick out of seeing how it would affect his dueling abilities. Tomorrow was his first day at Hogwarts, his first taste of school life in Europe, and even before classes had started he had already gotten several tastes of some of the amazing experiences the mysterious and wonderful Hogwarts could offer.


	7. Chapter 7: Ticking and Tocking

Author's Note:  
Sorry about the long wait everyone, I've been ever so busy between work, university, friends and my own personal issues that need dealing with. But here it is, the next chapter in my story. I hope you enjoy it. I'll try to write the next chapter soon; I promise you won't have to wait this long again.  
Peace and love everyone

Update (5th August)  
I've written the next chapter but I'm not going to bother to continue with this story if people don't actually like it. Sure, I can see the traffic on this story and I can see how some people are keeping up with it but with only two reviews, it doesn't make me happy because how the hell am I supposed to know if anyone even likes it? Stuff is about to go down hardcore in Hogwarts (imagine Half-Blood Prince, but 'accelerated'), but I won't bother with this if no one reads it. I'll post the next chapter in the next few days and I'll wait one month for some results.

* * *

"Indico Obscurus!" Samuel almost thundered as he jabbed his wand at the locked wooden box on his desk with as much force as he could. The professor sighed at the failed attempt and placed his hands on his hips as he stood on top of a small mountain of textbooks.

"Mister Flinter, that's incorrect! You need to hold your wand in the Uriar Grip, jab trice and pronounce each vowel quietly while each consonant must be loud and drawn out, now try again."

The diminutive Professor Flitwick admonished Samuel once more for his pathetic attempt at casting the fairly-complex Indico Charm. While over three-quarters of the class could already cast the spell with relative ease, the other half including Samuel could barely get their wand to flare, let alone emit the bright-purple rays that the others could. They had all been going out it for over an hour now, chanting the pronunciations in an assortment of different ways but to Flitwick it must have been obvious who had read their textbooks during the break and trip to Hogwarts and those who had not. All across the room, wooden boxes were being rendered transparent by the charm, allowing the students to glimpse the contents which was generally just a stack of feathers.

It was finally Friday and the weekend was just hours away marking an end for a startling first week filled with work, work and more work. Samuel had chosen his subjects very haphazardly, not really considering a future career in any field. It had come down to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, Ancient Runes and Astronomy. Immediately upon his entrance into each class the professors would take him aside and compare what knows against the curriculum. Each had been surprised at the amount of knowledge Samuel had when it came to Potions, Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts, but he was only found to be average in Charms and Ancient Runes. Professor Sprout had almost refused to allow Samuel to enter the Greenhouse with the rest of his class when she found out that he hadn't even been introduced to a Mandrake or a Shining Ireboll, but in the end she had allowed him in on probation as long as he caught up quickly. Between the extra study he had taken up in order to stay in Herbology and the massive work-load from his other classes, Samuel had barely enough time to see the friends he had made so far. Only Luna and Leanne were in his classes as Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff shared class-times, but even then Leanne had a lot of her own friends to hang out with. Samuel reckoned that Leanne was still thinking about the incident with the Love Potion at his party as it would explain her constant blushing but she wasn't giving him much chance to make it up to her. Just that morning Taryn had jokingly referred once more to Leanne's missing pair of panties as she told the story of Samuel's party to some of the other Ravenclaws, causing Leanne to flee from her spot opposite Katie who had sat next to Samuel.

"Wow, she's still embarrassed about that? I'm sure I explained your theory about the temperature... or maybe I forgot," Katie had told Samuel, winking playfully. "Let her work it out for herself, my poor Leanne needs something to help her forget all the crazy stuff happening outside these walls."

"But what if she gets the wrong impression of me? It was at my uncle's place and she had been sleeping right next to me."  
"Oh toughen up, princess. Besides, it wouldn't really be the 'wrong' impression, would it?"

Samuel had relented after that and had organized to have lunch with the girls later on, promising them that they would all work out a revenge plan against his cousin in the process. He had seen Samantha even less than Taryn and Katie as Samantha had been sorted into Gryffindor, but he had bumped into her and Ginny once or twice since arriving. They had avoided him whenever possible but even then Samuel went out of his way to try tracking her down once or twice, just to make her sweat a bit.

Glancing across the flashing lights to the other side of the room, Samuel flashed an embarrassed smile to Leanne. The witch had been one of the first to grasp the method of casting the spell correctly and had taken to helping her fellow Hufflepuffs.

"Mister Flinter, I asked you to cast the charm correctly, not to try charming the young ladies across the room!" Flitwick said as loudly as his small form could manage with a degree of both sternness and playfulness, exciting laughter from the rest of the class while Leanne blushed and began jabbing her wand in an erratic behavior while her face grew even more red.

"You aren't really doing it right," Luna's dreamy voice pierced the heightening anger in Samuel's head that was threatening to erupt at any moment.

"No kidding, Luna. If I was doing it right then I'd have already done it, wouldn't I?"  
Samuel's vision was obscured for a moment as Luna's hand reached across and pressed two fingers into the space between Samuel's eyes. "You're supposed to imagine yourself seeing inside the box over here, through what daddy calls 'Your Sixth Eye'."

"And what's your Third, Fourth and Firth Eye?"

"Well, your Third Eye is how you can see the future and divine prophecies. Your Fourth Eye is how people can only see animals that are hidden until death itself is seen while your Fifth Eye allows you to see into the Oreigon Sphere," Luna replied while staring inside the chest she had been assigned.

"I have no idea what that means, I hope you know that Luna. I've never heard of the Oreigon-" started Samuel, but Flitwick had noticed the chattering sixth-years.  
"While I don't expect any of you to actually successfully cast this charm on objects any more complex then a simple unlocked box as it is N.E.W.T.s level, those of you who do understand the thought-process that goes into making this charm work will go on to become great users of Charms indeed! Remember, you must concentrate on the chest and firmly believe in yourself!"

Samuel threw a malevolent look at Flitwick's turned back and concentrated on the words in his mind, holding his wand in a three-fingered grip, much the same as one would hold a pencil. Jabbing the wand's tip three times, he tried again.

A horribly-striped purple cushion flew through the air straight at Samuel but he reacted too slowly. Whacking into his face with a muffled thump, the cushion dropped onto his desk revealing a grinning Micheal Corner on the other side of the room who immediately stood and high-fived a pimply, stocky boy next to him. Turning at the noise, Flitwick gazed at Samuel with disgust.

"What's this, Mister Flinter? It's not a time for resting; it's a time for learning! Put that cushion away and get back to work or you'll have to make this up during your lunch break," threatened the vertically-challenged professor before turning to help one of the Hufflepuffs while Michael and his friend jeered at Samuel. Grumbling under his breath, Samuel knocked the cushion to the ground and concentrated on the chest again. During the week Michael had been a regular arse towards Samuel and seemed to particularly enjoy humiliating him with these sorts of displays. At first Michael had just bad-mouthed Samuel behind his back after Samuel made it perfectly clear that he had no interest in being friends with him, but that had escalated rapidly into snide rumors and nasty pranks. During dinner on his third day at Hogwarts, Samuel had almost bitten into a toffee apple that Michael had enchanted to grow to an unbelievable size once its structure had been compromised. During Potions on Thursday, Samuel had almost poured fish flakes into his Bedlam Poison after it had been switched with the White Tiger skin cells that he was supposed to use. Samuel had smelt the difference after the switch and promptly summoned back the right ingredient which had found itself underneath the desk Michael had been using. Professor Slughorn saw the flying cup of skin cells but said nothing, keeping his eyes on Michael for the rest of the lesson and finding as many ways of disparaging him as he could.

Lazily waving his wand in the air, Samuel chanted the words for a spell that he hoped might turn the odds around in his favor.  
The entire class erupted into giggles as a purple mist was discharged out of Samuel's wand before dissipating in the air. Only Leanne didn't laugh, who had seen Michael's prank with the cushion and was now casting a disapproving look at him. Flitwick turned back to Samuel with a pause and began to berate him once more.

"This is a serious breach of class etiquette, Mister Flinter! I try to be understanding to all my students here at Hogwarts but you are seriously trying my patience. It's not everyday that I get students from other countries join us so late in their school life but I'm determined to see you progress with the rest of the class-"  
On the other side of the room, Leanne had half-stood out of her seat, winking to Samuel before poking her wand between the shoulders of the pair of Hufflepuffs sitting in front of her to aim at Michael. Ernie MacMillan and Hannah Abbot had turned in shock at the wand's proximity, but Leanne whispered something silently to them. Both of them then turned back to watch the proceedings, Ernie offering Samuel a thumbs up.

"-It would be a real shame if I had to keep you in for extra Charms work, Mister Flinter. You're showing a surprising lack of progress with this spell. I had specially prepared these chests to be used in my class by casting a variety of charms that would render them vulnerable to the Indico Charm but even then you haven't made a single step forward-"  
Leanne began to chant a spell under her breathe while giving her wand a single swish. Thinking quickly, Samuel jabbed his wand towards the chest again.  
"_Indico Obscurus,"_ Samuel cried out right as a silvery flash of light shot out of Leanne's wand and hit Michael squarely in the back of the head. His own wand seemed to grow hotter in his hand, similar to how it had acted on his first night at Hogwarts before releasing a brilliant wave of purple light that cascaded over half the room. Instantly every chest in the path of the spell was rendered see-through while even the students and Flitwick himself had become partially transparent. Samuel looked in wonder at the people around him, watching their hearts beat in rhythm, sending blood flowing through their veins and pumping into their organs. The class was absolutely silent until a shriek rang out.  
Across the room, Michael's skin had begun to grow at a horrific rate, sending his nose, ears and chin soaring far below his shoulders while his fingers which had grown almost twelve inches longer flopped around as the excess of skin caused him to lose his grip on whatever he tried to grab hold of. Michael tried to open his mouth but all that came out was a liquid gurgle.

Flitwick dashed towards Michael, pulling out his especially short wand and waving it in a circular motion.

* * *

"So then Flitwick had to begin shrinking Michael, one limb at a time? That's too much!" Katie Bell giggled, her mouth full of pumpkin pie.

"As a prefect I would have been obligated to stop our dear Leanne from causing all that fuss, but personally I decided that Corner deserved that jinx; his constant jabbering during our classes was disturbing my studies," Ernie announced rather pompously, but nevertheless brought some laughter to the group of friends that had gathered for lunch.

At first what was planned as a lunch between Samuel, Katie and Leanne had turned into a proper gathering; Ernie MacMillan, Hannah Abbot and a dark-haired boy who Samuel didn't know joined them from the Hufflepuff table, Hermione Granger had dragged Ron Weasely with her from the Gryffindor table while Tasia Abramovich and Luna Lovegood gradually made their way from the other end of the table, both of them taking their time while discussing one absurd topic or another. The group of ten were taking up a significant amount of space on the Ravenclaw table and it was difficult to communicate with the whole group so they had quickly decided it would be better to take their group elsewhere. Katie, Hermione and Ernie had all conjured wicker baskets and began to gather food off the table, preparing several picnic hampers.  
After five minutes arguing with a slightly pink Michael Corner who was demanding to know why they were taking so much food off the table and out of the Great Hall, Samuel found himself sitting out on a blanket with the rest of the group near the coast of the Great Lake, the smell of freshly-cut grass in the air. Samuel took a ham and salad sandwich from the platter conjured on the blanket, taking a small bite out of it while the group continued to discuss that morning's events.

"Turn's out that Leanne's Stretching Jinx was a bit stronger then she expected, eh Leanne," Katie nudged Leanne's ticklish side with her elbow playfully, causing her friend to seize up and squeal.

"That little git did look a bit red," Ron commented, almost spraying the chicken in his mouth everywhere.  
"You can talk, Ron," joked Katie, causing the red-head's cheeks to grow as red as his hair while the group laughed.

"I heard Madam Pomfrey talking to Slughorn about it, apparently after Professor Flitwick stopped the Jinx from stretching him any further he couldn't undo it fully, so Michael had to go to Madam Pomfrey," Tasia said, barely taking her eyes from her novel. "Madam Pomfrey was able to shrink his skin again but for some reason Michael's skin is staying all pink and red no matter what anti-Jinx she uses so she went and asked Slughorn for advice."

"Damn, I was hoping they wouldn't realize," cursed Samuel. "I did that to him, when I was pretending to cast the Indico Charm. Remember that purple mist?"

"You mean when you managed to cast the Indico Charm on the entire class? That was quite extraordinary, I must say," Ernie said thoughtfully, gripping his chin with one hand like an old Greek philosopher. "And to think that you seemed to be having trouble with casting the spell even at a functional level."

"You cast the Maxima Indico Charm without even knowing how to cast a regular Indico Charm properly? That's amazing!" Hermione's eyes were brimming with excitement and she leaned towards Samuel. "You've got to show me, that's brilliant! I've read all about it, it takes hours, if not days in preparation of your targets in order to cast a Maxima Indico Charm successfully. What happened?"

Samuel shrugged. "It just kinda happened, you know? Flitwick was bugging me and I just tried casting it again, and that was it. Flitwick had to dispel almost everyone in the room."

Hermione nodded, almost shaking from excitement as she processed and categorized what Samuel said into her brain for future reference. "What did it feel like? A normal Indico Charm can't penetrate the human form, but the Maxima Indico Charm can."

Ernie and Hannah shook their heads as neither of them were caught in the spell's arc, but the boy who sat with them, who Samuel learn twas named Justin Finch-Fletchly sat forward and looked at Samuel in a strange way. "It was kind of funny, felt light, as if I could almost float upwards," he said, speaking slowly. "At one point I looked downwards, saw right through my own stomach. Freaked me out."

"Mate, if I could straight through my stomach I'd probably be freaked out too," Ron said, awkwardly patting Justin on the shoulder. Luna stood up and began to pace around the group, counting under her breath.

"Ron, if we saw what was inside your stomach we'd probably faint. You basically devoured an entire chicken and pudding," Katie joked, once more causing Ron's face to grow red as the group giggled and laughed. Hermione tried to stifle her giggling when Ron looked angrily at her but she failed miserably.

"But seriously guys, something strange is going on with my wand. On my first night here it grew super-hot and when I tried casting a flame arrow spell I instead got a swarm of dozens of arrows which traveled hundreds of feet before exploding. Then when I tried transmogrifying a tinderbox into a mouse, it instead blew up into a giant rat! My raven nearly shat itself at the sight," Samuel burst out. He had been wondering what it meant, why his wand was acting so peculiarly. "This morning it did the same thing; it grew hot and then it made me cast the Maxima Indico Charm."

"Maximized Flame Arrows doing plus two D six fire damage," Tasia mumbled, not taking her eyes away from her book and missing the strange looks everyone gave her.

"It doesn't sound too impossible," Hermione stated. "But it's not something that a student should have. Maybe you should ask Flitwick or Dumbledore, both of them know a lot about magical artifacts and I'm sure they can help you out."

"Of course they will; the moment they see what my wand can do they'll take it away from me. They'll tell me how dangerous it is and that will be the end of it."

"Mate, it does sound kinda dangerous." Ron was looking at Samuel curiously now, like he was some sort of animal in an exhibit.

"It's fine, it doesn't happen all the time anyways. Besides, after I received my grandfather's wand I left mine back at my uncles. If this gets taken away then I'll have nothing here to use. I'll go into the library tomorrow and start researching, maybe I'll find something similar in there."

"I'll help you look." Tasia announced quietly, peering at Samuel over the top of her novel. "I'll be in there anyways."

"Erm... I'll help too. I need to go in the library for our Ancient Runes essay so I can help you out for a few hours," Leanne offered before lapsing into giggles as Katie began to tickle her again.

"I still think you should go to Dumbledore-" started Hermione again, but Leanne's shrieks of laughter interrupted her. The dark-haired girl struggled to pull away from Katie's relentless assault but Katie wasn't budging. Squirming around until she could no longer take it, Katie only stopped once Leanne had tears of laughter gathering around her eyes. Huffing, Leanne laid back onto the blanket, exhausted.

"Katie, where's Taryn? Doesn't she had lunch off?" Samuel asked, changing the subject.  
Katie gave him a wicked grin then waved her hand lazily at the castle. "Rebecca Clearwater broke down in Care of Magical Creatures and was told to relax in the Common Room and try to calm down so when Taryn heard about it she took Rebecca for a walk about the castle. Her sister Heather has also been having a few problems lately so she wasn't really in the right state to take care of Rebecca. Since we're on the subject of missing persons, where's the third member of your trio, Hermione?"

"Harry? I'm not sure," Hermione said, rather unconvincingly. "I think he may have stopped by the library."

"Fifteen steps," Luna announced.

No one paid any attention to her.

"The library? While I can respect his dedication to study more as we are soon approaching our N.E.W.T.s year, it's only the first week," Ernie stood up, wiping the crumbs from his robes. "Well everyone, I must take my leave now. There's much work to be done."  
Hannah and Justin stood up, bidding the others goodbye. Together the three Hufflepuffs made their way back to the castle.

"I hope we can do this more often, it's more fun then eating alone." Leanne had been silent for a while, watching the proceedings like the member of an audience. "Don't you think so, Tasia?"

The book-worm jumped at the sound of her name, her novel dropping into her lap as she nodded enthusiastically before taking off her glasses to wipe them. Hermione leaned over to see the cover of the novel while Ron picked up his third pumpkin pie and began to consume it in record time. They still had some time left before their afternoon classes started so no one was in any particular rush.

"Fifteen steps," Luna said loudly, once again trying to get everyone's attention. Hermione just rolled her eyes while Tasia turned around suddenly to stare at the blonde girl.

"What's fifteen steps?" Samuel asked.

"It takes exactly fifteen steps to make one full circuit of this blanket," Luna replied, once more walking around the group as if to reinforce her point.

"And that means...?"

Hermione buried her head into her hands as Luna launched into an explanation. "When a flat surface takes exactly fifteen steps to walk around its circumference, that surface becomes a beacon to the Gilgori. The Gilgori can use their magic to turn the beacon into a portal that leads into their place of existence. Daddy says that if you stand within the portal during the thirteenth hour of the day then the Gilgori can enter your mind. It's almost one o'clock."

"Luna..." Leanne started, but Luna pressed on.

"Once they enter your mind, they feed on your magical ability. Not consuming it, just feeding off the residue that is made after each spell we cast. Once they eat up enough they can split their form, entering the minds of any children that are born from the victim."

"Oh come off it, that's impossible Loon-" Ron started, letting out a cry of pain as Hermione poked him in the side with her wand. "I-I mean, that sounds too fantastic to be real, Luna."

"Daddy told me about them over the holidays, he told me that Uncle Loken found himself caught in a portal once and from then on always saw these shining purple fires in the corner of his eye. I think we should get off the blanket now."

Hermione looked like she was going to argue but Samuel interrupted her. "We've still got a minute, we'll just stand on the grass until it's one minute past one then we can sit back down again. Does that sound reasonable? Hermione?"

Hermione didn't answer; she stood up and promptly tugged Ron backwards off the blanket. Katie laughed at the absurdity but offered no argument, stretching as she strolled closer to the lake's coast. Tasia gathered up the small mound of books that she had brought with her and placed them into a sack that quickly shrunk enough that it could fit into her pocket. Tasia took off her glasses in order to clean them once again, her ever-present red cloth wiping the non-existent dust away as she sat in among the flower beds, reminding Samuel of a beautiful little doll sitting in a glade. Samuel hadn't really spoken to Tasia much over the week; the small girl was always either reading or studying.

"What's your favorite part about Hogwarts?" Samuel asked her while Luna hurried Leanne off the blanket.

Tasia didn't reply at first, surprised at the suddenness of the question. "Ummmm... I would say... my friends," she answered, brushing a few of her fingers through her black hair. "That's sort of a strange question..."

"I guess I just haven't spoken to you much yet, you seem to like reading a lot."

Tasia shrugged, pulling off her glasses and tapping them with her wand. Tasia watched the glass tint before replacing them back on her face. "I've always liked to read; I'm not very good with real people. The world is kind of overwhelming sometimes. A book is so simple, so easy for me to follow."

"Maybe you just need some more practice." Samuel stared at the clouds above for a moment before continuing. "Is there anything you've ever wanted to do?"

Tasia watched Luna count the seconds down on Hermione's watch. "I always wanted to see a dragon. There was some at the Triwizard Tournament but I didn't go and missed out." Tasia's voice was tinged with sadness, startling Samuel, but she wasn't finished. "It was all my fault though; I wanted to read in the library instead of watching the first event. I guess if I had been a bit more social I might have had some friends to go with."

"You didn't have any friends?"

Ron immediately jumped back down onto the blanket after Luna blew a sigh of relief. Hermione looked at him with disgust then sat down, putting away whatever food hadn't been eaten yet. It proved to be a race against time as Ron began to scavenge whatever pumpkin pies and cherry croissants were left; stuffing as many into his mouth and pockets as he could.

"No, not really. I've always kind of been alone," Tasia looked at Luna before turning to the castle. "Luna and I became friends last year after we were partnered for a project in Divination. I met Taryn and Katie near the end of last semester and here I am. Usually people would ignore me because of my books but they didn't. I'm glad," she said simply, a faint smile touching her lips as she looked at Katie now reclining at the very edge of the lake.

"I would be really happy if you'd come and hang out with us more often," Samuel grinned, gesturing to the others around them. "It's wonderful to meet so many different people, to make such a diverse group of friends-" Samuel stopped, seeing Tasia's eyebrows raise in a amused way. "I guess that sounded a bit strange and stupid, right?"

"A little. Too much like a protagonist from a teenage fiction novel. I don't mind though, I know what you meant. I'll be glad to come along more often, thank you Samuel." Tasia smiled back at Samuel, her doll-like features appearing even more apparent. Samuel could almost imagine her inside some old museum exhibit; a curio from the eighteenth century crafted in a time when the finest doll-makers existed. Standing up, she brushed her robes off and stared at Samuel for a moment, letting the wind catch her long hair and lightly blow it across her face. Stepping closer, she gave Samuel a quick hug.  
"Thanks," she said quietly before quickly saying goodbye to everyone, hurrying back towards the castle to prepare for her next lesson. Luna seemed to almost float after her, turning to wave silently only briefly.

"I guess that's our cue too. Ron, stop whining," Hermione ordered, swishing her wand in a wide arc. Instantly the baskets began to float up in the air at chest-level. Ron just lay on the ground, holding his stomach and groaning.

"I ate too much," he groaned, his face full of agony. "Just leave me behind, its only Potions."

"Get up Ron! You're not going to miss out on the very first lesson of Potions of the year so get rolling."

"What about you three, what are your plans for the afternoon?" Hermione watched Ron begin to slowly wriggle himself into a sitting position, moaning and groaning as his stomach burbled.

"I'm going to see Madam Pomfrey; a few of the students who were working as her nurses during their free time were pulled out of Hogwarts so she's been looking for replacements," Leanne said, idling swishing her wand about. "Professor Flitwick told me I have a penchant for healing charms and I should give it a shot."  
"Can you do anything for him?" Hermione nodded her head at Ron.

"Sure, just march him to bed and don't let him eat for the rest of the day," called out Katie from where she lay. "You all go and have fun, I'm just going kick back over here for a while. Next week I'm going to have an absolute pile of work to do between my N.E.W.T.s and Quidditch so here I am, relaxing while I can. Sam?"  
"Oh hell, don't call me that," Samuel grimaced, sitting down next to Katie. "I'm gonna stick around here with Katie; I didn't take Arithmancy or Muggle Studies so I'm fine to chill for the rest of the afternoon until Astronomy."

"Fair enough, we'll see you later then."  
Hermione and Ron walked back towards the castle with Ron holding onto Hermione for dear life as they went up the slight hill. The breeze blew against them, causing both of the struggling Gryffindors to pause as they threatened to tumble over.

"I'll see you both later at dinner. Please don't stay out here too long," Leanne asked, a look of concern in her eyes. "With all this trouble going on..."  
"It's fine, we won't be long. Even if Katie refuses to, I'll just drag her back to the castle by the hem of her robes."

"Sounds kinda kinky, who says I wouldn't enjoy that," Katie teased, a playful glint in her eyes. Samuel heard Leanne take a sharp intake of breath and noticed her face pale, but Katie merely laughed and waved away her comment. "It's alright Leanne, I'm not the one you need to fight for him over with."

Katie's laughter echoed in the wind as Leanne ran to the castle, not turning around even a single time. Samuel shook his head, a shy grin plastering his features as he took a seat next to Katie, his hands on his knees.

"Fucking hell, did you really have to do that? As if it wasn't hard enough to try and get her to calm down after all that stuff that happened at my place, now I'm going to have to deal with that all over again."

"Oh stop complaining so much." Katie leaned up onto one elbow, slugging Samuel's bicep with the other hand. "You've really got to deal with all this nonsense. It's obvious to anyone with half a brain and two eyes that both Leanne and Taryn have a thing for you; both of them showing it in different ways. Leanne is nervous, shy; she's amazed by you and is far too insecure of herself so she's just staying by the side-lines, hoping that you'll come around and sweep her off her feet. I wouldn't object to that; Leanne needs someone reliable and intelligent. Not to mention good-looking." Katie laughed before launching herself at Samuel, pushing him down onto the grass.

Samuel struggled with the brunette, laughing along with her as they grappled dangerously close to the lake's surface. At first Samuel didn't fight back too hard, worried that he'd hurt Katie if he pushed her too hard, but Katie wasn't a weak girl. Years of Quidditch had toughened her up, surprising Samuel with hidden reserves of strength. Within no time at all Katie pinned Samuel's hands above his head, watching him squirm beneath her body while she sat on his torso.

"It's too bad I'm loyal to Taryn, or you'd be such a catch! But, since we're talking about Taryn..." Katie leaned forward until Samuel felt her breath hot on his face.

"Here's the deal; I know you like her and I know she likes you. Taryn will sooner or later make her move unless you do it first; she isn't a shy person like Leanne but make no mistake, she won't do it somewhere public so stop being so nervous!" Katie exclaimed, letting go of Samuel's wrists and swinging her legs over the side of his body. She still sat on him but at least Samuel could move now.

"Katie, I don't know the hell you're going on about. They're both just my-"

"Shut up."

Samuel cried out in pain as Katie reached around and slapped him across the face. He felt the hurt flesh beneath his hand, radiating across his face. Katie leaned in again.

"Don't pretend you only think of them as friends. As I said, I know you like them both. But they aren't the only ones, are they? You're a very complicated person, aren't you?"

Samuel tried to push Katie off, but the witch wouldn't budge. He was getting desperate, and not just for Katie to get off of him. He had always been a very private person, his thoughts always being known to only one person and that was himself. Tensing his muscles, he prepared to try pushing Katie off again.

"None of that now. Calm on, you should be able to figure out why I'm telling you this." Katie stood up, letting Samuel go.

"Don't you trust me? Aren't we friends? We may have not known each other for so long-" Samuel started, scrambling to his feet but Katie sighed with exasperation.

"Samuel, shut up. You like like them both more then just as a friend so stop denying it, just like there's someone else in the school who you like. Let me make something clear; don't you dare hurt any of them." Katie's face had taken on a stern nature, jabbing her finger at him with each sentence. This was the first time Samuel had seen her like this; usually Katie was very jovial, care-free, but she was showing her inner self now. She was doing what every friend would do; making sure that her best friends weren't hurt by some idiot who couldn't make up his mind.

"Katie... I know. I'm sorry." This was it and Samuel knew it. If his secret was known then there was no reason he couldn't speak freely now. He reached out and grabbed her left hand and held it with both hands, releasing emotions that he had imprisoned deep within him, too far for most people to see them. "I've been a moron. I haven't always been this way, I just can't help it. My life is just a mess right now, no matter how much I don't want to admit it. There are people dying out there, my grandfather being one of them yet here I am; falling for almost every girl I meet. I don't know what it is.  
When I first met Taryn, I was completely taken away by her. She was just so... Irish. Fun, beautiful, intelligent; she was adventurous and courageous. Tackling that baby dragon together brought something out of me; I saw her for what she was and I wanted to be with her so badly. Then that episode at St Mungos happened. I'm not an idiot, I heard what the Healers were saying and more or less understood between them and what Faolán had told me. I want to be there for her, to help her in case something happens like that again. Then I met you and Leanne at the hospital; I remember Leanne being so shy, blushing constantly and barely saying a word. I understood that it was because of me and I felt so happy; it was absolutely wonderful for me because never before had a girl shown interest in me like that. She's almost as doll-like as Tasia, the part of my brain that wants to protect people going into overdrive for her.

But you're right; I can't make up my mind. About either of them. About anyone. Until I can fix this then I can't be with no one. I guess that's an answer right there; I can just ignore my feelings and stay alone, at least then they won't be hurt."

Katie snorted. "Stupid, you're missing the obvious point here. They like you. If they can't be with you then they'll be hurt regardless and I'd really prefer that not to happen. Not that I'd have to be the one to punish you of course. You met Maon, Taryn's younger brother. I heard he'd already nearly killed another student because of her."

"True enough," Samuel sighed. "What should I do?"

Katie didn't say anything. She didn't have to. They both stood in silence for a while, watching the sun slowly manoeuvre its way towards the horizon. Neither noticed the other's silence, too engrossed in their own thoughts. Samuel could only think of each of the girls in turn and how he would hurt them with his uselessness and idiocy. Katie was right; he would need to make up his mind and act soon, before they could act on their feelings. If even one of them tried to talk to him about it, the rest would all be effected.

* * *

In a distant part of the forest, the trees no longer sang. A dark force had come, scattering the wild animals and sentient ones alike. The proud centaur clans of the north abandoned their part of the forest, retreating from the darkness that killed all that beheld it. Scouts were sent to perceive what the danger was and to gather help from the humans but no news of this ever reached Dumbledore's ears. Their groves destroyed and their fields burnt, the centaurs cried out for the days of yore.  
Gone were the days of peace and life in the Forbidden Forest; instead death had come bearing wielding forces almost as great as the old magic of the forest. Giants strode in the vanguard; gathering great trunks from the oldest trees while beings with hearts of darkness trailed behind them, hiding their sizable allies from the eyes of any that would look across the breadth of the forest. Things were going to change soon, but the trees could only watch as their forest was overwhelmed.


End file.
